I 


im 

8390 

B62   Bloonfield 


'anap:err.ent  and 


men. 


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of  the 

University  of  California 

Lo8  Angeles 

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DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 

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MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 


MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

A   RECORD    OF   NEW    STEPS 
IN  INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS 


BY 

MEYER  BLOOMFIELD 


s>i^!^;'^f^v< 


NEW  YORK 

THE  CENTURY  CO. 

1919 


7>AC  ^   C 


Copyright,  1919,  by 
The  Century  Co. 


Copyright,   1919,  by 
Thb  Curtis  Publishing  Compant 


Published,  May,  1919 


•J)  Ji)(o^ 

t 

T 


TO 
MY  WIFE 


±>KEFACE 

In  passing  from  war  to  normal  conditions  of  pro- 
duction British  Industry  is  facing  a  host  of  labor 
problems  and  it  is  resolutely  undertaking  measures 
to  solve  them. 

Whatever  may  be  his  own  particular  economic  in- 
terests or  outlook  every  thinking  American  is  aware 
that  industry  in  the  United  States  faces  problems  of 
a  similar  nature.  Unlike  Britain  however,  we  are  not 
for  the  moment  under  quite  the  same  pressure  to 
effect  a  settlement  of  insistent  issues  in  the  field  of 
Industrial  Eelations. 

But  the  issues  are  here.  Both  wisdom  and  con- 
science admonish  that  they  be  met  with  intelligent  sym- 
pathy. A  policy  of  drift  is  no  policy  at  all,  and  in 
the  present  circumstances  such  a  situation  is  not  with- 
out its  dangers.  The  time  is  favorable  for  construc- 
tive work,  through  joint  effort  by  employers  and  the 
rank  and  file  of  workers,  in  meeting  at  least  some  of 
the  most  important  of  those  questions  which  are 
lumped  under  the  heading  of  the  labor  problem. 

Fortunately  we  have  before  us  the  guidance  of  pres- 
ent British  experience.  Moreover  a  hopeful  factor  in 
the  situation  is  the  circumstance  that  a  growing  num- 
ber of  employers  and  a  host  of  spokesmen  for  the 
working  masses  have  the  vision  and  the  spirit  which 
if  united  with  energy  and  candor  to  the  end  of  making 
work  relationships  sound  will  give  to  American  indus- 
try a  future  full  of  promise. 


viii  i'1(i:fa('i<: 

Although  we  have  not  suffered  as  has  Britain  tiie 
need  for  action  is  clear.  Our  normal  industrial  ac- 
tivities have  largely  escaped  the  ravages  of  warfare 
for  four  years  and  more.  There  has  not  boon  tliat 
drain  on  America's  man-power  which  the  British  Isles 
have  experienced.  Our  human  losses  have  indeed  been 
grievous,  our  sacrifices  great.  But  in  England,  Scot- 
land and  Wales  there  is  scarcely  a  home  which  has 
not  in  some  way  felt  the  lethal  breath  of  the  trenches. 
There  the  war  spared  nobody  and  the  people  have 
come  out  of  the  ordeal  with  mind,  will  and  purpose 
profoundly  stirred.  In  the  industrial  w^orld  this 
thought  has  taken  shape: — British  industry  must  in 
future  speak  the  joint  purposes  of  the  parties  engaged 
in  its  operations;  it  must  manage  its  affairs  so  as  to 
assure  to  its  workers  larger  returns  than  before  in 
self-respect,  satisfaction  and  security. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  in  the  fall  of  1918  to  be 
commissioned  by  the  "Saturday  Evening  Post"  to  visit 
the  industrial  centers  of  Great  Britain  and  tell  of  con- 
ditions as  they  appeared  toward  the  close  of  the  war 
and  during  the  period  immediately  following  the  Ar- 
mistice. For  all  their  trying  preoccupation  with  war 
duties,  officials  of  the  Government,  of  the  labor  organ- 
izations and  of  the  Labor  Party,  employers,  and  men 
and  women  foremost  in  the  significant  movements  of 
the  country  gave  liberally  of  their  time  and  counsel 
and  opened  up  fruitful  sources  of  information.  My 
thanks  are  due  to  the  "Saturday  Evening  Post"  for 
permission  to  reprint  the  series  of  articles  that  I  had 
written  for  it. 

For  constant  personal  assistance,  criticism  and  con- 
tribution of  material,  I  must  acknowledge  my  indebted- 


PREFACE  ix 

ness  to  Wilson  Harris  of  the  "London  Daily  News," 
Herbert  Tracey  of  the  Labor  Party,  E.  J.  Phelan  of 
the  Ministry  of  Labor,  and  Miss  Mary  Crosbie  of  the 
Woman's  Trade  Union  League.  Sir  Robert  Hatfield, 
W.  L,  Hichens,  P.  J.  Pybus,  Charles  Renold,  Gordon 
Selfridge  and  Seebohm  Rowntree  made  it  possible  for 
me  to  see  what  progressive  employers  were  doing. 
I  owe  thanks  for  unfailing  friendliness  and  help  to 
Lord  Eustace  Percy  and  A.  Zimmern  of  the  Foreign 
Office,  Sir  Stephenson  Kent,  John  Chartres,  Lord 
Pirrie,  Major  Evelyn  Wrench,  Major  C.  T.  Holland; 
Albert  Mansbridge  of  the  Workers'  Educational  Asso- 
ciation; A.  W.  Tyler  of  the  Cooperative  Printing  So- 
ciety; George  Lansbury  of  the  ''Herald";  J.  T.  Brown- 
lie,  the  head  of  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers ; 
H.  H.  MacTaggart;  J.  H.  Thomas,  Arthur  Hen- 
derson and  C.  W.  Bowerman;  W.  A.  Appleton,  Sec- 
retary of  the  General  Federation  of  Trade  Unions; 
J.  S.  May,  General  Secretary  of  the  International 
Cooperative  Alliance;  A.  H.  Paterson,  Secretary  of 
the  National  Alliance  of  Employer  and  Employed; 
Joseph  Thorp,  John  Hilton  of  the  Garton  Founda- 
tion, Henry  Clay,  G.  D.  H.  Cole  and  the  other  mem- 
bers of  that  most  stimulating  group  which  meet  weekly 
in  the  "Dean's  Yard"  basement;  S.  K.  Ratcliffe  of  the 
"Manchester  Guardian";  J.  C.  Squires  of  the  "New 
Statesman";  and  Geoffrey  Dawson,  Editor  of  the 
"Times."  I  owe  much  to  the  men  and  women  in  the 
mines,  mills,  factories  and  shipyards  of  Great  Britain, 
for  their  personal  letters,  their  interviews  and  general 
spirit  of  helpfulness. 

The  main  text  of  this  book  is  made  up  of  articles 
written  for  the  "Saturday  Evening  Post,"  but  new 


X  PR K FACE 

and  illustrative  matorial  lias  boon  added  which  servos 
the  practical  purpose  of  showing  in  detail  just  what 
new  arrangements  in  Industrial  Relations  are  at  work. 
This  material  is  important  and  carries  a  message  for 
industry  in  the  United  States.  We  do  not  need  to 
imitate  maybe,  but  in  furthering  the  ends  of  better  out- 
put and  a  worthier  manhood  and  womanhood  in  Amer- 
ican industry,  wo  stand  to  profit  from  nn  infomiod  in- 
terest in  what  industrial  Britain  is  thinking  and  doing. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  From  War  to  Work  in  Great  Britain   ....  3 

II  More  Output 33 

III  Sidelights  on  Industry  in  Great  Britain  ...  69 

IV  Control  of  the  Job 100 

V  As  THE  British  Employer  Sees  It 137 

VI    How  British  Labor  Sees  It    .     .     ^     .     ...  176 

APPENDICES 
Appendix  A 

labor's  statement  on  the  housing  problem  after 

THE  war 209 

The  extreme  urgency — the  extent  of  the  shortage — what  will 
happen  when  the  rent  restriction  act  expires  ? — who  is  to  build 
the  new  cottages  ? — the  government  policy 

REPORT  BY  MINISTRY  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  ON  HOUSING  IN 

ENGLAND  AND   WALES 216 

I.     A  Large  Task 

II.     Housing  Before  the  War 

The  shortage  of  houses — defective  and  insanitary  dwell- 
ings— slum  areas — some  illustrations — towns — country 
districts 

III.  Attempts  to  Improve  Housing  Conditions 

The  provision  of  houses — the  improvement  of  existing 
housing  and  the  removal  of  slums — the  control  of 
building   and    town   planning 

IV.  The   Effect   of   the   War 

Shortage — defective  houses  and  slums — the  cost  of  build- 
ing— supply   of   materials 

v.    The  Need  for  Action 

Effect  of  bad  housing  on  health  and  life — housing  and 
industrial  unrest — demobilization   and   unemployment 

VI.     The  Housing   Policy  After  the   War 

Local  government  board  inquiry — arrangement  of  streets 
and   buildings   and   lay-out   of   estates — private   enterprise 
— some  other  important  committees — conclusion 
xi 


xii  CONTENTS 

Appendix  B  page 

report  by  ministry  of  reconstruction  on  raw  mate- 
rials and  employment 235 

Metal  trades — textile  industries — boot  and  shoe  industry — 
timber — paper-making — other  industries — general  concluBiona — 
the  organization  of  control 

Appendix  C 
the  employment  exchange  from  within   ....  250 

A   day   with  the  manager 

Appendix  D 

report  of  a  conference  between  0r3anizers  of  trade 
unions,  bristol  employers  and  others  concerned 
with  the  industrial  employment  of  women,  con- 
vened by  the  bristol  association  for  industrial 

RECONSTRUCTION,  ON  THE  16tH  AND  17tH  MARCH, 
1918,  ON  THE  POSITION  OF  WOMEN  IN  INDUSTRY  AFTER 
THE   WAR  253 

I.     General  Considerations 
II.     The    Industrial    Employment    of   Women    After   thb 
War 

III.  The  Organization  of  Women  Workers 

IV.  The  Whitley  Reports 

V.     The  Remuneration  of  Women  Workers 
VI.     Welfare  Work 

Appendix  E 

labor 's  pronouncement  on  the  restoration  of  trade 
union  customs  after  the  war 269 

I.  Before  the  Munitions  Act 

II.  The  Munition  of  War  Act,  1915 

III.  The  Munitions  of  War  (Amendment)  Act,  1016 

IV.  Summary  of  the  Guarantees 

V.     Note  on  Government  Establishments 

Appendix  F 

the  labor  party 's  statement  on  the  labor  problems 
after  the  war 287 

Demobilization — the  machinery  for  securing  employment — the 
restoration  of  trade  union  conditions — the  prevention  of  unem- 
ployment— the  maintenance  of  the  standard  of  life — the  legal 
minimum  wage — the  nationalization  of  railways — the  nationali- 
zation of  mines — agriculture — taxation — franchise — the  position 
of  women  after  the  war — education  and  child  welfare — educa- 
tional 


CONTENTS  xiii 

Appendix  G  page 

industrial  reports.     number  1.    industrial.  councils  297 

I.  Lettee  Addressed  by  the  Mixistek  of  Labor  to  the 
Leading  Employees'  Associations  and  Teadb 
Unions 

INDUSTRIAL  REPORTS.      NUMBER  2.      WORKS  COMMITTEES  .    311 
I.     Introduction 
II.     Origins  and  Influence  of  War  Developments 

III.  Constitution 

IV.  Peoceduee 
v.     Functions 

VI.     Relations  with  Trade  Unions 
VII.     General  Considerations 

Appendix  I — Works   committees 

Appendix  II — Reports    on    individual  worts   committees, 

etc. 
Appendix  III — Summary    of   a   district   investigation    in 

the  engineering  and   shipbuilding   industries 
Appendix   IV — Joint    timekeeijing    committees 
Appendix  V — National       and       district      schemes — shop 

stewards 
Appendix  VI — Ministry    of   reconstruction 
Appendix  VII — Scheme  of  loca.    joint  pits  committees 

Appendix  H 

THE  predecessor  OF  THE  WHITLEY  SCHEME    ....    466 

The  needs  of  the  industrial  situation — the  scheme — the  compul- 
sory code — the  voluntary  code — the  congestion  of  the  parlia- 
mentary machine — the  reception  of  the  scheme — two  problems — 
conclusion 

APPENDIX 479 

Proposal  for  a  builder's  national  industrial  parliament — intro- 
duction— a  national  industrial  parliament  for  the  building  indus- 
try argument — proposal — name — objects — program  method — re- 
sult-^legal  sanction  for  compulsory  code — status  of  industrial  par- 
liament— suggested   constitution — suggested  auxiliary   assemblies 

THE  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCIL  FOR  THE  BUILDING  INDUSTRY    .    486 

The  industrial  council  for  the  building  industry — constitution  and 
rules  adopted  1st  August,  1918,  Ministry  of  Labor — the  indus- 
trial council  for  the  building  industry  (building  trades  parlia- 
ment)— constitution  and  rules — standing  orders  governing  pro- 
cedure  in  debate   at   meetings   of   the   council 

Appendix  I 

NATIONAL  COUNCIL  OF  THE  POTTERY  INDUSTRY       .        .        .499 

Objects  and  constitution — inaugural  meeting — manufacturers' 
representatives — operatives'  representatives — business  of  the  first 
meeting — Major  Wedgwood — rateable  value — the  outcome  of  the 
war 


xiv  CONTENTS 

PAOC 

DR.   ADDISON,    M.P 509 

The  government  blamed — rejjroacntative  aBsociations — one  recog- 
nized authority — labor's  reward — raw  material  Bupi^lies — a  quei- 
tion  of  cost — an  illustration — the  priority  question — articles  o£ 
the  association — transport  facilities — for  the  benefit  of  trade 

MR.  ROBERTS,  M.P 518 

A  close  analysis — an  encouraging  reception — employees'  frank 
acceptance — the  Whitley  Council — government  ownership — the 
short  cut  to  lJto[)ia — the  training  of  men — minimum  standard — 
an  authoritative   voice — after-war  shortage — the  right   end 

Appendix  J 

TRADE  PARLIAMENTS 531 

The  reconstruction  of  industry  by  industry  itself — the  problem 
is  urgent — industry  responsible  for  its  own  development — the 
Whitley  report — its  root  idea — the  organization  of  an  industrial 
council" — no  interference  with  the  individual  management  of  in- 
dustries— the  relation  between  the  state  and  the  industrial  coun- 
cils— variety  of  constitution  essential — problems  of  the  transition 
period — the  permanent  problems  of  industry — industrial  councils 
not  wages  boards  under  a  new  name — the  corporate  interests  of 
industrj-  in  its  special  problems — improved  social  status  of  the 
industrial  classes — the  place  of  industry  in  the  community — the 
advantage  of  industrial  councils  to  the  state — the  self-develop- 
ment of  each  industry — a  stepping  stone  towards  industrial 
reconstruction 

REPORT  OF  THE  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION  COUNCIL    .    541 
Report  for  the  year  December,  1917-1918 

Appendix  K 

rules  for  working  the  hans  eenold  shop  stewards' 
committee 544 

Appendix  L 
workshop  committees 546 

Suggested  lines  of  development — preface — contents — introduction 
— scope  of  workers'  shop  organizations;  management  questions 
which  could  be  devolved,  wholly  or  in  part — types  of  organiza- 
tion— summary  and  conclusions  of  sections  I  and  II — comments 
on  working 

Appendix  M 
labor  party  constitution 572 

Name — membership — party  objects — party  program — the  party 
conference — the  national  executive — parliamentary  candidatures 
— affiliation  fees 


CONTENTS  XV 


STANDING   ORDERS 576 

Annual  conference — agenda — voting — national  executive — treas- 
urer— secretary — annual  conference  arrangements  committee 

THE  LABOR  PARTY 579 

Constitution  and  rules  for  local  labor  parties  in  single  and  un- 
divided   boroughs — objects — management 

THE    .    .    .    LABOR   PARTY 581 

Rules  and  constitution — membership — objects — management — 
contributions — officers — ward  committees  annual  meeting — can- 
didatures— miscellaneous 

Index 585 


MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 


MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

CHAPTER  I 

FROM    WAR   TO    WORK    IN    GREAT   BRITAIN 

OUT  of  the  welter  of  many  isms  and  programs 
which  the  passing  of  the  war  cloud  from  these 
British  Isles  has  brought  to  light  two  things  are  clear : 
One,  that  pre-war  state  of  mind  of  employer  and  of 
those  who  work  for  him  has  undergone  a  change ;  the 
other,  that  unless  the  peace  ahead  is  to  be  both  sterile 
and  stormy  every  capable  man's  shoulder  must  be  put 
to  the  wheel  of  industry  and  help  begin  the  mending  of 
the  war  wastage  with  more  and  better  work  than  has 
ever  been  done  before. 

If  anything  can  be  said  to  be  settled  in  a  time  of  so 
much  unsettlement,  of  moving  from  a  gigantic  war 
footing  to  normal,  it  is  the  fact  that  both  duty  and 
self-interest  require  for  the  job  of  starting  up  the  in- 
dustrial circulation  of  the  nation  something  of  that 
same  patriotic  spirit  all  round  which  made  it  possi- 
ble to  overcome  the  great  peril. 

All  the  agitation  and  discussion  now  going  on 
throughout  the  land  a  big  word  covers,  and  it  means 
all  sorts  of  things  to  all  sorts  of  people.  That  word 
is  reconstiniction.  To  some — not  a  large  number,  per- 
haps, so  far  as  one  can  judge,  but  a  noisy  and  an  en- 
ergetic crowd,   skilful  in  capitalizing  every  element 

3 


4  managemp:nt  and  men 

of  inevitable  disaffection  in  these  troublous  times  of 
change — the  only  reconstruction  worth  looking  at  bears 
one  brand  and  familiar  trade-mark:  Russian  Bol- 
shevism. The  Bolshevist  is  right  on  the  job  in  this 
war-burdened  land,  and  he  is  making  himself  heard 
whenever  and  wherever  opportunity  offers.  In  this 
home  of  free  speech  he  doesn't  have  to  work  under 
cover.  You  will  find  him  out  in  the  factory  yard,  on 
the  bus  top,  in  both  East  and  West  End  tea  shops; 
and  he  is  in  his  element  at  the  mass  meetings,  whose 
number  is  legion. 

Go  to  any  Albert  Hall  gathering,  whatever  may  be 
the  purpose  of  the  meeting;  he  is  on  hand  to  capture 
the  meeting  if  he  can,  to  heckle  the  speakers,  and  in 
general  to  start  something.  One  Sunday  night  not 
long  ago  this  hall  was  packed  to  the  roof.  A  voice  in 
the  topmost  gallery,  louder  than  that  of  the  poor 
speaker  who  was  trying  to  hold  his  audience,  yelled 
"We  want  a  Trotsky  revolution."  There  were 
cheers  and  cries  and  applause,  but  none  so  vehement 
as  those  which  followed  the  retort  of  the  young  man 
of  the  pale  face  and  the  silver  badge — the  insignia  of 
the  returned  and  disabled  soldier:  ''Why  don't  you 
clear  out  then  and  go  back  to  Russia?"  And  these 
familiar  exercises  over,  the  speaker  was  allowed  to 
proceed. 

British  good  sense  has  always  been  the  saving  grace 
in  every  emergency,  and  it  may  be  said  to  be  getting 
into  action  at  this  juncture  for  all  the  threatening  dif- 
ferences so  vehemently  aired.  One  good  sign  of  this 
is  the  general  inclination  to  face  with  sympathy  and 
good  will,  and  also  with  a  serious  effort  at  understand- 
ing, the  new  purposes  wliich  have  taken  hold  of  the 


FROM  WAR  TO  WORK  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN        5 

minds  of  the  people.  One  evening  while  waiting  for 
the  doors  of  an  assembly  hall  to  open  I  was  talking  with 
my  neighbor  in  line.     He  was  a  postman  in  uniform. 

"What  is  coming  off  in  this  country?"  I  asked. 
''People  are  talking  about  changes.  Is  Russia  going 
to  be  the  model?" 

"Not  by  a  long  way,  it  is  n't — unless  some  very  tall 
blunders  are  made.  We  have  the  vote,  and  now  six 
million  women  are  going  to  vote.  We  go  along  the  con- 
stitutional way.  We  want  no  mob  rule  tearing  every- 
thing up.  The  Bolshies  are  only  Prussians  painted 
red.  W^e  haven't  put  up  with  four  years  to  save  our 
country  and  then  let  them  do  what  we  wouldn't  let 
Jerry  do." 

Jerry  is  trench  for  Hun. 

More  and  better  work,  carried  on  under  conditions 
which  satisfy  those  who  do  it,  be  they  managers  or 
laborers,  that  their  good  will  can  be  in  it — these  are 
the  twin  peaks  of  what  may  be  called  the  general  labor 
problem  here.  All  sorts  of  other  peaks  and  ridges 
line  the  industrial  horizon ;  all  sorts  of  trails  and  path- 
ways show  on  the  industrial  map  which  many  are  bus- 
ily redrawing — but  they  do  not  all  lead  to  the  Promised 
Land. 

All  through  the  war  the  countiy  has  been  prosper- 
ous. Women  who  never  before  saw  the  inside  of  big 
Piccadilly  and  Regent  Street  shops  became  familiar 
customers  of  the  luxury  departments.  That  ghost 
which  haunted  the  very  retreats  of  pre-war  states- 
men, unemployment,  was  happily  laid,  at  least  for  the 
time  being.  There  was  work  enough — something  new 
in  British  memory.  Labor  disturbances,  though  not 
unknown  during  the  war,  fell  to  a  small  figure,  for  war 


6  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

power  has  a  way  of  bringing  industrial  disputants  to 
terms,  and  short  shrift  for  the  recalcitrant.  A  grim 
romiiidor  of  this  force  was  a  tattered  poster  I  saw  on 
the  wall  of  a  Clyde  yard  machine  shop  serving  notice 
on  a  body  of  strikers  that  within  seven  days  they  would 
be  called  to  the  colors  unless  they  returned  to  work. 
The  poster  was  dated  September,  1918;  it  seems  ages 
ago  in  tone. 

Industrial  peace,  then,  there  has  been,  on  the  whole ; 
but  this  is  not  to  say  that  industrial  unrest  had  van- 
ished. The  illusion  of  general  prosperity  covered  up 
the  real  situation,  while  a  marvelous  national  sacrifice 
to  ward  off  imminent  disaster  submerged  every  other 
emotion.  The  heavy  exertion  of  war-making  does  not 
usually  carry  over  into  the  moods  of  peace.  Let  go 
the  tension  and  a  reaction  easy  to  mark  sets  in.  The 
spirit  of  ready  sacrifice  keyed  up  the  population  for 
nearly  four  and  a  half  years ;  and  all  the  people  made 
sacrifices — rich  and  poor  alike ;  make  no  mistake  about 
that.  Now  war  at  best  is  a  spendthrift  business,  and 
the  future  is  its  prey.  Unemployment  passed  out  of 
the  country  during  the  war  because  trade  was  booming, 
new  demands  on  the  labor  power  mounted  daily,  pro- 
ductive men  by  the  million  left  their  work  places  for 
the  Front,  the  government  became  the  great  spender 
and  almost  monopolized  the  purchasing  power  of  the 
nation,  having  to  pay  no  regard  to  the  consequences 
of  destroying  rather  tlian  replenishing  things.  Give 
up  these  huge  artificial  stimulants  and  there  is  some 
job  ahead. 

Will  the  generous  spirit  which  floated  the  British 
nation  through  the  war  last  long  enough  to  save  it  from 
rocks  in  the  peace  channels?     The  indications  are  that 


FROM  WAR  TO  WORK  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN        7 

it  will.  Only  facts  have  to  be  faced  and  spades  and 
things  called  by  no  camouflaged  words.  Right  through 
the  war  there  were  charges  and  counter  charges  be- 
tween employers  and  employed.  Bad  feeling,  distrust, 
calling  of  names  were  not  infrequent.  Each  side  as- 
serted solemnly  and  without  reserve  that  the  other 
was  putting  self  above  country  and  was  busy  making 
ready  for  the  day  when  war  pressure  was  off  and  the 
field  open  once  more  for  the  best  man  to  win.  Em- 
ployers have  complained  of  labor  profiteering,  slack- 
ness, indiscipline  and  shocking  time-keeping — that  is, 
absence  from  work.  The  men  talk  of  fat  war  profits 
despite  the  tax  bills,  oppression  of  the  workers,  subtle 
attempts  to  undermine  their  organizations,  and,  to  top 
it  all,  the  jump  in  living  expenses.  During  the  war 
these  recriminations  got  but  little  hearing.  Now  they 
hold  the  front  page. 

There  can  be  no  question  that,  while  the  war  was  on, 
a  real  brotherhood  of  sacrifice  was  the  general  senti- 
ment of  the  nation.  Industrial  bitterness  was,  like 
politics,  adjourned  for  the  period  of  the  conflict.  How 
to  keep  something  of  that  spirit  alive  and  give  that 
bit  of  the  civilized  world  not  yet  in  eruption  a  chance 
to  build  for  the  future  of  its  own  people  and  do  some- 
thing for  those  of  the  shaken  lands — here  is  the  big- 
gest problem  in  industrial  statesmanship. 

The  return  to  peace  calls  for  a  sloughing  off  of  old- 
time  formulas  in  the  industrial  bargain;  a  scrapping 
of  platitudes;  a  truce  to  inertia;  a  frank  facing  of 
what  has  to  be  done.  This  is  not  the  special  chore  of 
any  specially  ordained  set  of  men.  It  is  supremely 
the  chore  of  every  fair-minded  man,  be  his  job  what  it 
may.     Not  much  headway  will  be  made  if  the  old  imps 


8  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

of  class  suspicion  and  stupidity  bold  the  stage,  nor  if 
lively  cooperation  among  all  the  parties  concerned 
fails  to  obtain.  Never  have  said  parties  been  so  much 
in  one  boat  as  now,  whether  they  are  aware  of  this  fact 
or  not. 

What  the  war  did  was  to  push  the  problem  and  fact 
of  industrial  unrest  into  the  background;  it  did  little 
to  cure  it.  No  intelligent  man  believed  that  it  would 
stay  down  when  peace  came  and  the  cement  of  common 
effort  crumbled. 

The  entire  subject  of  industrial  unrest  was  gone  into 
carefully  by  a  commission  made  up  of  first-rate  citi- 
zens. These  men  were  not  theorists,  and  they  did  not 
start  out  to  prove  any  pet  idea  of  their  own.  When 
they  finished  their  job  they  told  the  country  some  plain 
truths,  of  use  to  keep  in  mind  at  the  present  time.  Un- 
rest, these  hard-headed  men  said,  was  nothing  new  in 
the  industrial  life  of  the  country.  So  far  as  it  arose 
from  small  or  temporary  causes  the  matter  could  be 
dealt  with  by  a  little  application  of  judgment  and  un- 
selfishness. But  the  unrest  which  went  down  deeper 
and  kept  smoldering,  with  here  and  there  an  outbreak 
of  bad  temper  and  disaffection — that  called  for  a  broad- 
minded  view  of  conditions  which  had  to  be  dealt  ^vith 
in  a  statesmanlike  way.  The  commission  did  not  fool 
itself  into  believing  that  individual  agitators  were  re- 
sponsible for  chronic  discontent.  They  mince  no 
words,  to  be  sure,  when  they  view  the  performances 
of  extremists  who  bow  to  no  authority  but  that  of  their 
own  impulses  and  undermine  the  influence  of  the 
workers'  chosen  representatives  in  supporting  orderly 
trade  agreements.  But  the  heart  of  British  labor, 
take  it  by  and  large,  is  sound ;  the  typical  workingman 


FROM  WAR  TO  WORK  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN        9 

believes  in  constitutional  methods;  one  hears  this 
phrase  used  again  and  again  everywhere — but  this 
same  typical  workingman  has  grievances  a-plenty. 
Soaring  food  prices  and  general  profiteering  are  con- 
stant sources  of  embitterment.  Though  the  govern- 
ment has  skimmed  the  cream  off  profits  and  incomes 
the  men  believe  that  an  unconscionable  amount  of  sud- 
den affluence  has  come  to  many,  and  they  are  mad  clear 
through. 

Shortage  of  houses  has  for  years  been  a  crying  evil, 
but  very  little  has  been  done  about  it.^  Big  war  wages 
have  made  no  difference  so  far  as  getting  accommoda- 
tions is  concerned,  and  thousands  of  families  who  want 
to  live  as  the  English-speaking  race  has  learned  to  live 
find  it  impossible.  All  sorts  of  petty  restrictions,  lack 
of  enterprise  and  obstructive  land  laws  have  stood  in 
the  way  and  have  bred  a  mountain  of  ill  feeling.  No 
pronouncement  of  the  government  has  met  with  more 
hearty  approval  than  that  connected  with  its  housing 
program.  As  far  back  as  1901  it  was  shown  that  in 
England  and  Wales  alone  nearly  three  million  persons 
lived  more  than  two  in  a  room.  In  Scotland  and  in 
Ireland  conditions  were  even  worse. 

The  house  famine  has  been  growing  on  the  country. 
During  the  war  building  operations  came  to  a  stand- 
still of  course.  The  result  to-day  is  bad  overcrowding 
and  congestion  in  nearly  every  town  in  Great  Britain — 
in  all  the  mining  districts,  where  the  men  are  bitter 
and  discontent  is  rampant ;  in  all  the  agricultural  sec- 
tions; and  notoriously  in  the  leading  manufacturing 

1  See  page  209.  Labor's  Statement  on  the  Housing  Problem  after  the 
War.  Report  by  Ministry  of  Reconstruction  on  Housing  in  England 
and  Wales. 


10  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

centers.  The  common  estimate  is  that  the  country  is 
about  one  million  houses  short.  At  present  landlords 
are  prevented  from  raising  rents  above  the  pre-war 
figure  by  the  Restriction  of  Rent  Act.  They  cry  out 
that  ruin  is  staring  them  in  the  face.  The  act  holds 
good  for  six  months  longer,  after  which  a  jump  in 
house  rentals  must  surely  come.  That  will  not  help 
matters.  From  every  point  of  view  there  is  the  most 
urgent  need  for  prompt  action.  If  there  is,  no  one  will 
expect  miracles;  the  men  will  wait  a  reasonable  time 
for  houses  if  they  see  that  the  country  is  at  last  awake 
to  this  need  and  is  doing  something  worth  while  to 
meet  it.     But  they  will  not  put  up  with  more  promises. 

There  is  another  reason  for  a  bold  housing  venture : 
No  one  knows  just  how  much  unemployment,  even  of  a 
temporary  kind,  may  hit  the  country;  or  where  it  will 
occur.  All  sorts  of  dislocations  are  taking  place,  and 
more  are  bound  to  take  place  during  the  crucial  next 
six  months.  Until  the  factories  have  had  time  to  get 
back  to  their  proper  work  and  raw  materials  are  forth- 
coming suflScient  to  enable  industry  to  get  into  its 
stride  there  will  be  a  period  of  anxiety  for  everybody. 
The  building  of  a  large  number  of  houses  would  pro- 
vide legitimate  employment  to  thousands — hundreds  of 
thousands  of  men  who  would  be  otherwise  out  of  work. 
To  provide  three  hundred  thousand  houses  would  em- 
ploy four  hundred  thousand  men  of  the  building  and 
allied  trades  and  spur  the  furniture  and  other  house- 
hold trades. 

As  the  present  cost  of  building  material  is  more  than 
double  that  of  the  pre-war  figure,  and  as  prices  may 
in  a  few  years  go  down  somewhat,  no  builder  is  inclined 
to  take  all  the  risks.     The  government  is  therefore 


FROM  WAR  TO  WORK  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN      11 

making  its  plans  for  a  national  house-building  project 
subsidized  by  the  state  under  an  arrangement  with 
various  local  governments. 

National  aid  for  housing,  both  as  a  commendable  em- 
ployment project  and  as  a  means  of  meeting  the  out- 
spoken demands  on  the  part  of  masses  of  workers  for 
better  conditions,  is  only  one  line  of  state  activity. 
There  will  be  a  large  extension  of  such  activity  in  other 
directions.  What  has  already  been  promised  only 
foreshadows  other  far-reaching  enterprises  intended 
to  serve  the  same  purposes.  Lands,  forests,  farms, 
highways,  transportation,  public  education,  social  in- 
surance— these  are  among  the  topics  which  have  left 
the  academic  shades  and  have  become  live  priactical 
issues. 

When  war  broke,  this  country  saw  employers  and 
workmen  carry  on  their  various  occupations  under  a 
heavy  crust  of  custom,  tradition,  habit  and  trade  prac- 
tices which  must  represent  the  overgrowths  of  a  cen- 
tury or  more.  When  speed  in  production  became  a 
life-and-death  necessity  to  the  nation  a  clean  sweep  had 
to  be  made  at  once  of  every  sort  of  obstruction.  The 
government  called  in  representatives  of  the  big  trade 
unions,  and  with  them  drew  up  what  has  since  become 
known  as  the  Treasury  Agreement. 

This  agreement  called  for  a  speeding  up,  and  a 
manning  of  the  factories  regardless  of  any  previous 
conditions  or  understandings.  New  and  faster  ma- 
chinery was  to  be  introduced,  operations  split  up  so 
as  to  allow  for  dilution  of  the  working  force  by  men  and 
women  of  less  skill;  emergency  training  courses  set 
up  in  place  of  the  traditional  apprenticeship ;  and  pay- 
ment by  results  enforced.     Doors  were  thrown  open  to 


12  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

newcomers  in  trades  hitherto  the  precious  preserves  of 
highly  competent  craftsmen.  To  help  win  the  war, 
and  in  view  of  the  agreement,  trade  unions  gave  up 
rules  and  provisions  which  they  had  built  up  through 
the  generations. 

The  government  pledged  itself  to  "restore,"  when 
the  war  ended,  all  that  the  unions  had  waived.  Here 
is  the  restoration  pledge  and  the  guaranty: 

Provided  that  the  conditions  set  out  are  accepted  by  the  Govern- 
ment as  applicable  to  all  contracts  for  the  execution  of  war  muni- 
tions and  equipments  the  workmen's  representatives  at  the  Con- 
ference are  of  opinion  that  during  the  war  period  the  relaxation  of 
the  present  trade  practices  is  imperative,  and  that  each  Union  be 
recommended  to  take  into  favorable  consideration  such  changes  in 
working  conditions  or  trade  customs  as  may  be  necessary  with  a 
view  to  accelerating  the  output  of  war  munitions  or  equipments. 

The  recommendations  are  conditional  on  Government  requiring 
all  contractors  and  sub-contractors  engaged  on  mxmitions  and  equip- 
ments of  war  or  other  work  required  for  the  satisfactory  comple- 
tion of  the  war  to  give  an  undertaking  to  the  following  effect: 

1.  Any  departure  during  the  war  from  the  practice  ruling  in  our 
workshops,  shipyards,  and  other  industries  prior  to  the  war  shall 
only  be  for  the  period  of  the  war. 

2.  No  change  in  practice  made  during  the  war  shall  be  allowed  to 
prejudice  the  position  of  the  workpeople  in  our  employment,  or  of 
their  Trade  Unions  in  regard  to  the  resumption  and  maintenance 
after  the  war  of  any  rules  or  customs  existing  prior  to  the  war. 

3.  In  any  readjustment  of  staff  which  may  have  to  be  effected 
after  the  war  priority  of  employment  will  be  given  to  workmen  in 
our  employment  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  who  are  serving  with 
the  colors  or  who  are  now  in  our  employment. 

4.  Where  the  custom  of  a  shop  is  changed  during  the  war  by  the 
introduction  of  semi-skilled  men  to  perform  work  hitherto  performed 
by  a  class  of  workmen  of  higher  skill,  the  rates  paid  shall  be  the 
usual  rates  of  the  district  for  that  class  of  work. 

5.  The  relaxation  of  existing  demarcation  restrictions  or  admis- 
sion of  semi-skilled  or  female  labor  shall  not  affect  adversely  the 
rates  customarily  paid  for  the  job.  In  cases  where  men  who  or- 
dinarily do  the  work  are  adversely  affected  thereby,  the  necessary 


FROM  WAR  TO  WORK  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN      13 

readjustments  shall  be  made  so  that  they  can  maintain  their  previous 
earnings. 

6.  A  record  of  the  nature  of  the  departure  from  the  conditions 
prevailing  before  the  date  of  this  undertaking  shall  be  kept  and 
shall  be  open  for  inspection  by  the  authorized  representative  of 
the  Government. 

7.  Due  notice  shall  be  given  to  the  workmen  concerned  wherever 
practicable  of  any  changes  of  working  conditions  which  it  is  desired 
to  introduce  as  the  result  of  this  arrangement,  and  opportunity  of 
local  consultation  with  men  or  their  representatives  shall  be  given 
if  desired. 

8.  All  differences  with  our  workmen  engaged  on  Government 
work  arising  out  of  changes  so  introduced  or  with  regard  to  wages 
or  conditions  of  employment  arising  out  of  the  war  shall  be  settled 
without  stoppage  of  work. 

9.  It  is  clearly  understood  that  nothing  in  this  undertaking  is  to 
prejudice  the  position  of  employers  or  employees  after  the  war. 

[Signed]         D.  Lloyd  George 
Walter  Runciman 
Arthur  Henderson 
Chairman  of  Workmen's  Representatives 

Wm.  Mosses 
Secretary  of  Workmen's  Representatives 
March  19,  1915 

This  is  the  war  charter  of  restoration.  The  men  are 
asking  the  government  to  redeem  its  pledge.  But, 
alas,  it  is  much  easier  to  talk  restoration  than  to  re- 
store amid  new  conditions  and  emergencies.  Efficiency 
once  tasted  and  pronounced  good  cannot  be  so  easily 
dispensed  with.  To  slow  do^\^l  production  at  this 
time  to  the  basis  before  the  war  would  be  for  the  Brit- 
ish Empire  to  commit  industrial  hari-kari.  Getting 
rid  of  the  new  workers  who  have  shown  themselves 
highly  proficient  is  something  not  to  be  lightly  under- 
taken. Here  is  a  hard  nut  to  crack — employer,  work- 
men and  government  are  wrestling  with  this  restora- 
tion business.     To  the  credit  of  all  concerned  be  it  said. 


14  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

restoration  in  the  strict  sense  used  when  the  pledge 
was  made  is  quite  generally  recognized  to  be  impossi- 
ble. The  line  of  final  settlement  lies  in  new  under- 
standings and  safeguards  worked  out  to  protect  both 
the  interests  of  the  men  and  of  the  industries  of  the 
country. 

Right  here  let  me  pay  a  tribute  to  the  sane  influence 
of  Mr.  Gompers'  speeches  in  this  country.  Conditions 
being  different  here  from  what  they  are  in  the  United 
States  the  labor  organizations  between  the  two  coun- 
tries vary.  Fundamentally  their  aims  may  be  alike, 
but  they  do  not  see  eye  to  eye  in  every  particular.  Mr. 
Gompers'  long  experience  has  taught  him  that  an  in- 
dustry must  be  efficient  and  profitable  if  any  gains  are 
to  be  made.  He  is  for  efficiency  as  well  as  for  a  fair 
distribution  of  the  results  of  such  efficiency.  ^lany 
people  here  have  been  puzzled  by  Mr.  Gompers'  advo- 
cacy of  improved  production.  It  sounded  to  them  as 
if  he  were  preaching  the  employers'  gospel.  This 
state  of  mind  shows  the  nature  of  the  gap  which  has 
yawned  between  employers  and  employed  in  this  coun- 
try. Gradually  the  meaning  of  his  preachment  is  com- 
ing home,  and  these  words  of  his  are  frequently  quoted : 

''We  are  not  going  to  have  the  trouble  in  our  country 
that  Britain  had  with  restriction  of  production.  We 
in  the  United  States  have  followed  a  different  policy. 
AVe  say  to  the  employers.  Bring  in  all  the  improved  ma- 
chinery and  new  tools  that  you  can  find.  We  will  help 
you  to  improve  them  still  further  and  we  will  get  the 
utmost  product  out  of  them.  But  what  we  insist  on  is 
the  limitation  of  the  hours  of  labor  for  the  individual- 
to  eight  hours  per  day.  Work  two  shifts  if  you  please, 
or  work  your  machinery  all  round  the   twenty-four 


FROM  WAR  TO  WORK  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN      15 

hours  if  you  like  with  three  shifts,  and  we  will  help 
you,  but  we  insist  on  the  normal  working  day  wdth  full 
physical  effort.  We  will  not  agree  to  that  overwork 
producing  the  poison  of  overfatigue,  which  destroys 
the  maximum  of  production,  undermines  the  health  of 
the  individual  worker  and  destroys  his  capacity  for 
daily  industrial  effort." 

Demobilization,  civil  and  military,  is  actively  under 
way.  Millions  of  men  and  women  are  involved.  Mir- 
acles cannot  be  worked  to  make  the  process  of  starting 
up  the  normal  activities  of  industrial  plants  coincide 
exactly  with  the  flow  of  labor.  Therefore  hitches  oc- 
cur, human  log  jams,  and  it  takes  some  skill  to  keep  up 
a  semblance  of  order.  One  factory,  without  a  word 
of  notice,  suddenly  discharged  its  thousand  munition 
girls.  The  next  morning  the  place  looked  as  if  it  had 
been  through  an  air  raid. 

What  manufacturers  fear  most  just  now  is  not  a 
possible  shortage  of  labor  or  even  exactions  on  the 
part  of  labor ;  they  are  worried  lest  raw  material  may 
not  come  in  fast  enough  to  keep  their  organizations 
going.i 

The  conversion  of  British  industry  into  a  vast  war 
machine  was  a  great  achievement.  Its  reconversion 
to  a  peace  basis  will  be  an  achievement  still  greater. 
In  the  one  case  the  withdrawal  of  men  for  the  army  and 
the  demand  for  war  material  were  relatively  gradual 
— the  national  munition  factories  were  not  first  put  in 
hand  till  the  war  was  nearly  a  year  old;  in  the  other 
the  change  will  have  to  be  accomplished  within  a  space 
almost  of  weeks,  unless  the  nation  is  to  sustain  an  eco- 

1  See  page  235.  Report  by  Ministry  of  Reconstruction  on  Raw  Mate- 
rials and  Employment. 


16  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

nomic  loss  which  it  is  in  no  condition  to  contemplate. 

Moreover,  though  preparations  for  demobilization 
have  long  been  in  train  the  catastrophic  collapse  of 
the  Central  Powers  in  October  was  a  result  outside  all 
calculations.  It  was  always  safe  to  count  on  three 
months'  warning  of  the  coming  of  peace.  In  the  event 
there  was  not  three  weeks.  The  army,  it  is  true,  is  still 
in  the  field,  and  demobilization  on  the  great  scale  may 
be  some  distance  off  yet.  But  the  pivotal  men,  those 
who  just  missed  exemption  as  indispensable,  are  al- 
ready coming  back;  and  apart  altogether  from  the 
army  there  are  three  million  or  more  war  workers  in 
munitions  and  other  supply  industries  at  home  who 
must  not  be  kept  a  day  longer  than  is  absolutely  essen- 
tial in  unproductive  employment. 

The  immediate  problem  therefore  is  twofold:  The 
war  workers  have  to  be  disbanded,  and  disbanded  in 
such  a  way  that  they  shall  neither  be  turned  out  on  the 
streets  nor  let  loose  to  capture  the  picked  places  in  in- 
dustry before  the  men  still  at  the  Front  get  their 
chance.  That  means,  speaking  broadly,  that  the  whole 
field  of  employment  has  to  be  organized ;  that  so  far  as 
is  possible  workers  shall  not  be  turned  adrift  till  new 
places  are  open  for  them;  and  that  sufficient  posts  shall 
he  kept  open  in  every  industry  to  insure  absolute  equal- 
ity of  opportunity  for  the  men  in  France  and  the 
Balkans  and  Mesopotamia  and  Palestine  when  in  due 
time  they  get  back  from  the  trenches  to  the  workshop. 

That  problem  has  been  gone  into  by  a  dozen  different 
committees  in  the  past  two  years,  and  in  the  main  the 
machinery  for  dealing  with  it  is  ready.  The  govern- 
ment departments  chiefly  concerned  are  the  Ministry 
of  Munitions  and  the  Ministry  of  Labor.     The  task  of 


FROM  WAR  TO  WORK  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN      17 

the  former  is  to  regulate  the  release  of  munition  work- 
ers, the  task  of  the  latter  to  find  places  for  the  sud- 
denly unemployed.  The  Ministry  of  Labor  has  been 
strengthened  for  its  new  responsibilities  by  the  trans- 
ference to  it  of  the  late  head  of  the  labor-supply  de- 
partment of  the  Ministry  of  Munitions,  Sir  Stephenson 
Kent,  who  will  be  the  actual  director  of  the  whole  de- 
mobilization strategy. 

The  machinery  chosen  is  the  employment-exchange 
system.^  The  exchanges  were  first  set  up  under  the 
Board  of  Trade  in  1910,  and  were  transferred  to  the 
Ministry  of  Labor  on  the  creation  of  that  department 
in  1916.  Their  function  in  peacetime  was,  as  their 
name  shows,  to  adjust  the  supply  of  labor  to  the  de- 
mand throughout  the  country,  to  keep  lists  of  all  va- 
cancies, of  all  men  wanting  work,  and  to  facilitate  the 
transfer  of  workmen  where  necessary  from  one  district 
to  another.  At  the  same  time  they  were  responsible 
for  the  working  of  the  unemployment  section  of  the 
National  Insurance  Act. 

The  exchanges  have  not  been  an  unqualified  success 
— that  for  various  reasons,  notably  the  fact  that  in  all 
skilled  trades  the  men's  trade  unions  served  in  them- 
selves as  effective  agencies  for  the  supply  of  labor. 
Now,  however,  the  employment  exchanges  are  being 
rapidly  strengthened  and  increased  in  number  to  enable 
tbem  to  deal  with  a  far  greater  problem  than  they 
were  ever  designed  to  handle. 

Two  factors  are  simplifying  the  demobilization :  In 
the  first  place  the  Ministry  of  Munitions  has  some  con- 
trol over  the  rate  of  dismissals.     The  production  of 

1  See  page  250.     "The  Employment  Exchange  from  Within" — Maga- 
zine of  the  Ministry  of  Labor. 


18  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

munitions  was  not  shut  down  to  the  blast  of  a  whistle 
on  November  eleventh.  On  the  contrary  orders  were 
immediately  given  that  jobs  half  or  two-thirds  finished 
should  be  completed,  and  at  the  same  time  the  plants 
were  used  wherever  possible  to  produce  commercial 
commodities  instead  of  war  material,  with  the  same 
employees  and  on  the  same  machines.  Tlius  before 
the  armistice  was  a  fortnight  old  shell  makers  were 
turning  out  files  and  springs,  grenade  makers  were 
manufacturing  dairy  separators,  other  munition  firms 
were  on  the  point  of  setting  to  work  on  electrical  fit- 
tings, or  toys,  or  furniture,  or  dairy  utensils. 

Then  there  was  the  fact  that  while  thousands  of  men 
were  wanting  work  thousands  of  employers  were  want- 
ing men.  When  matters  are  finally  adjusted  there  is 
going  to  be  no  lack  of  employment  for  years  to  come 
in  Great  Britain,  though  dark  uncertainties  are  still 
present.  Apart  from  the  demands  that  will  be  made 
by  France  and  Belgium  for  building  material  and  fur- 
niture and  machinery,  the  whole  fabric  of  Britain  itself 
is  waiting  to  be  put  in  repair.  The  mines  must  be 
worked  at  the  highest  pressure  to  make  up  the  coal 
deficiency ;  the  permanent  way  and  the  rolling  stock  of 
the  railways  must  be  overhauled  from  top  to  bottom; 
a  million  houses,  and  furniture  to  fill  them,  have  to  be 
constructed;  and  in  a  score  of  other  industries  that 
have  been  nearly  at  a  standstill  for  the  last  four  years 
every  man  who  was  in  the  trade  before  will  find  work 
to  keep  him  employed  on  overtime  for  as  far  ahead  as 
he  can  see. 

That  of  course  assumes  that  supplies  of  raw  ma- 
terials will  be  forthcoming,  and  it  leaves  out  of  account 
for  the  moment  the  fact  that  there  are  hundreds  of 


FROM  WAR  TO  WORK  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN      19 

thousands  of  workers — principally  women — competing 
in  the  labor  market  who  were  never  competing  in  it 
before.  But  speaking  generally  the  problem  is  to  see 
that  no  employer  is  kept  waiting  for  workers  and  no 
workers  are  kept  waiting  for  work.  That  is  what  the 
employment  exchange  has  to  look  after.  Its  equipment 
for  the  task  consists  of  a  manager  of  each  exchange, 
with  an  advisory  committee  of  employers  and  work- 
men in  the  locality  to  support  him.  Every  large  town 
has  its  exchange,  often  with  several  branches,  and 
throughout  the  smaller  towns  and  villages  there  are 
resident  agents  serving  the  same  purpose  as  the  fully 
developed  exchange.  The  system  is  centralized  in 
London  in  the  Ministry  of  Labor. 

By  the  middle  of  November  the  exchanges  were  hard 
at  work  dealing  with  the  flow  of  discharged  war  work- 
ers. From  the  workers'  point  of  view  the  situation 
was  not  desperate,  for  all  who  had  been  engaged  on 
munitions,  in  the  widest  sense,  were  guaranteed  unem- 
ployment pay  for  six  months  at  the  rate  of  twenty- 
four  shillings  a  week  in  the  case  of  men  and  twenty 
shillings  in  the  case  of  women.  That  is  no  great  figure, 
with  the  cost  of  living  what  it  is  to-day,  but  it  is  a 
material  relief  to  the  drain  imposed  by  a  spell  of  un- 
employment on  savings,  and  after  years  of  unbroken 
physical  strain  there  are  many  to  whom  the  prospect 
of  a  few  weeks '  holiday  is  welcome  enough. 

That,  however,  does  not  lessen  the  magnitude  of  the 
great  changeover,  and  it  has  to  be  remembered  that 
for  one  worker  who  voluntarily  takes  a  few  weeks' 
rest  a  dozen  will  of  necessity  be  kept  idle  while  ma- 
chinery and  plant  are  being  readapted  from  their  war 


20  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

to  their  peace  operations.  And  the  moment  demobili- 
zation begins  in  earnest  their  numbers  will  be  multi- 
plied daily.  For  the  soldiers  an  effective  scheme  is  in 
operation.  They,  like  the  munition  workers,  have  un- 
employment pay  guaranteed,  and  in  their  case  over  a 
period  of  twelve  months  instead  of  six.  At  the  same 
time  steps  have  been  taken  to  keep  the  volume  of  even 
temporary  unemployment  at  the  lowest  level.  Every 
employer  who  wants  a  particular  workman  back  is  in- 
vited to  ask  for  him,  and  every  soldier  who  wants  a 
particular  piece  of  work  is  invited  to  apply  for  it. 
That  holds  good  whether  the  soldier  is  in  England  or 
abroad.  A  postcard  is  given  him  to  fill  up  asking 
whether  he  has  a  job  waiting,  and  if  so  where.  If  he 
has  not  he  states  what  kind  of  w^ork  he  wants  and  in 
what  locality.  The  employers  meanwhile  are  also  fill- 
ing up  postcards  giving  full  particulars  of  the  names 
and  regiment  and  address  of  the  men  they  want,  and 
stating  what  kind  of  employment  is  waiting  for  them. 
All  postcards  from  all  sources  ultimately  reach  the  em- 
ployment exchange  for  the  appropriate  district,  after 
which  it  is  easy  to  fit  together  the  man  who  wants  a 
particular  employer  and  the  employer  who  wants  that 
particular  man,  while  the  others  can  be  disposed  of 
rather  less  immediately  by  the  ordinary  process  of 
bringing  together  the  supply  and  the  demand. 

But  a  scheme  that  works  on  paper  may  run  on  every 
kind  of  snag  in  practice.  That  is  true  of  the  demobili- 
zation plans.  One  difficulty  that  is  going  to  arise  is 
the  wage  question.  That  is  inevitable.  An  attempt 
has  been  made  to  get  round  it  by  an  act.  hurriedly 
passed  to  prohibit  for  the  next  six  months  the  lowering 


FROM  WAR  TO  WORK  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN      21 

of  the  wage  minimum  current  in  a  number  of  important 
trades  without  the  special  sanction  of  a  government 
arbitrator.  That  is  something,  but  it  should  be  ob- 
served that  it  applies  only  to  the  minimum,  not  the 
average  wage  rate.  At  the  best,  overtime  at  special 
rates  will  be  at  an  end,  and  highly  paid  munition  work- 
ers will  have  to  be  content  to  go  home  at  the  week-end 
with  much  lighter  pockets  than  in  the  past.  It  is  not 
to  be  expected  that  they  will  flock  with  enthusiasm  into 
employment  where  that  prospect  is  before  them. 
Many,  moreover — and  this  is  particularly  true  of  the 
soldiers — will  find  their  old  work  distasteful,  and  will 
probably  enough  prefer  work  in  some  industry  that 
would  soon  be  overstocked  if  all  the  applications  for 
it  were  entertained. 

That  desire  for  change  is  seen  on  a  small  scale  in 
the  case  of  munition  girls  who  either  actually  were  or 
would  in  due  course  have  become  domestic  servants. 
There  is  every  sign  of  a  general  refusal  to  exchange 
the  relative  freedom  of  industrial  life  for  the  restraints 
of  domestic  employment,  and  the  difficulties  of  the 
average  middle  class  household  are  likely  to  be  quite 
as  acute  during  the  first  months  of  peace  as  they  have 
been  through  the  last  two  or  three  years  of  war.  The 
same  tendency  will  be  found  in  men  and  women  brought 
up  to  other  trades.  Many  men,  for  example,  whose 
life  hitherto  has  been  passed  in  offices  and  workshops 
will  declare  for  open-air  occupation  in  the  future, 
either  on  the  land  in  England  or  on  the  land  in  some 
British  colony.  That  raises  the  question  of  training 
as  well  as  employment,  for  the  recognition  is  at  last 
dawning  on  the  British  people  that  agriculture  is  a 


22  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

skilled  trade,  and  there  will  bo  no  fear  of  the  returned 
soldier  being  pitchforked  into  it  untrained  and  un- 
equipped. 

These  are  the  problems  the  employment  exchanges 
have  before  them — and  if  the  exchanges  are  run  as  mere 
machinery  and  nothing  more  they  are  going  to  break 
down  very  completely  and  very  quickly.  It  is  easy 
enough  to  pick  up  such  convenient  terms  as  "the  trans- 
ference of  labor,"  and  to  talk  lightly  of  ''drafting," 
say,  bricklayers  from  London  to  Lancashire.  But 
when  all  is  said  a  workman  is  a  man  and  not  a  piece 
of  mechanism.  Neither  is  he  a  snail  carrying  his 
house  on  his  back.  The  house  he  lives  in  is  built  into 
the  ground  and  he  has  to  leave  it  where  it  is  when  he 
goes  somewhere  else.  For  that  reason  he  has  a  strong 
prejudice  against  going  somewhere  else.  He  is  not 
going  to  be  moved  about  the  country  like  a  pa\vn  on  a 
chessboard  by  some  government  official,  particularly 
after  a  gruelling  four  years  or  so  in  the  army.  If  he 
has  got  to  go  he  must  be  satisfied  that  the  move  is  for 
his  own  benefit. 

That  is  where  the  employment-exchange  advisory 
committees  will  come  in.  They  have  had  compara- 
tively little  to  do  in  the  past,  but  their  testing  time  has 
come  now.  Half  the  membership  of  each  committee 
consists  of  trade  unionists,  so  that  the  workman  com- 
ing under  their  purview  can  count  on  sympathetic  treat- 
ment. If  the  advisory  committees  can  create  and 
maintain  a  humanizing  atmosphere  throughout  the  em- 
ployment-exchange system  they  should  find  it  in  their 
power  to  apply  just  that  lubricant  of  good  will  and 
understanding  that  will  keep  the  wheels  of  the  ma- 
chine running  smooth  and  silent. 


FROM  WAR  TO  WORK  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN      23 

An  overlooked  factor  in  easing  up  the  employment 
situation  here  is  the  quiet  process  of  emigration  which 
is  going  on.  Here  is  a  solution  for  some  of  the  present 
industrial  problems  which  is  at  once  attractive  and  dis- 
quieting. No  one  has  been  especially  pushing  this 
movement,  for  it  is  a  movement,  and  it  is  growing  in 
volume.  Employers  are  frankly  anxious.  The  loss  of 
a  skilled  adult  worker  may  be  definitely  measured  in 
terms  of  so  many  dollars  invested.  Change  of  habita- 
tion is  not  confined  to  the  roving  and  the  adventurous ; 
it  is  quite  as  often  a  sign  of  vitality  and  ambition. 
Hundreds  of  men  and  women  may  be  seen  crowding 
the  window  displays  of  the  various  dominion-govern- 
ment offices  along  the  Strand.  Hundreds  have  gone 
within  to  ask  for  literature  and  make  inquiries.  Can- 
ada, Australia,  New  Zealand  and  the  South  African 
lands  can  make  good  use  of  the  energetic  men  and 
women  who  have  done  such  notable  war  work  here 
during  these  four  years  past.  Workingmen  and  their 
families  are  seeking  better  prospects  abroad.  They 
do  not  wish  to  put  up  with  a  period  of  anxiety  about  a 
job.  Returned  soldiers  with  a  taste  for  the  open  gaze 
at  the  alluring  landscapes  and  views  of  work  outdoors 
in  the  spacious  overseas  dominions.  They  take  away 
with  them  the  folders  and  the  prospectuses,  and  there 
is  a  serious  look  on  their  faces.  Is  history  repeating 
itself?  Every  great  war  has  resulted  in  a  large  shift 
of  population. 

The  work  of  reconstruction  and  of  restoration  is 
going  forward  rapidly,  not  without  its  daily  perplexi- 
ties and  fresh  difficulties,  but  its  stride  is  evident. 
Trade  unions  and  the  workers  generally  through  their 
Labor  Party  are  disposed  to  make  the  transition  time 


84  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

as  orderly  as  possible.  They  willingly  accejjt  the  new 
conditions  in  industry,  knowing  that  the  future  of  their 
country  is  at  stake  in  the  decisions  that  are  being 
made.  They  will  throw  themselves  into  the  task  of 
upbuilding  if  they  can  secure  in  return  a  frank  recog- 
nition of  the  moral  advance  which  labor  has  made  as 
a  national  force — an  appreciation  of  the  new  self- 
respect  which  has  taken  hold  of  the  humblest  toiler. 
The  workers  ask  for  an  improved  status,  a  finer  rela- 
!  tion  than  they  have  had  hitherto  in  the  scheme  of  man- 
agement. They  think  that  within  their  own  range  of 
interests  and  opportunities  they  have  contributions  of 
value  to  make  to  the  industries  in  which  they  are  en- 
gaged. They  regard  employment  as  a  venture  in  co- 
operation. 

Such  views  and  aspirations  find  no  opposition  on 
the  part  of  the  best  employers  here.  On  the  contrary 
they  are  welcomed  as  holding  out  a  promise  of  better 
relations  and  more  productive  organization.  Here  are 
the  words  of  a  great  employer  w^hose  goods  fill  the 
world  markets: 

'*It  is  idle  to  hope  to  increase  output  unless  the  con- 
fidence of  the  workers  can  be  gained  and  their  coopera- 
tion enlisted ;  unless,  in  other  words,  they  can  be  placed 
in  a  position  to  understand  how  their  work  is  needed 
for  the  sake  of  the  future  of  the  country,  in  the  same 
way  as  they  learned  to  understand  the  meaning  and 
the  purpose  of  their  military  duties.  Confidence  must 
take  the  place  of  suspicion,  and  public  service  the  place 
of  sectional  self-interest  in  the  relation  between  the  two 
parties,  or  the  lesson  of  the  war  will  not  have  been 
learned." 

Mighty  little  progress,  and  one-sided  at  that,  will 


FROM  WAR  TO  WORK  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN      25 

take  place  in  restoring  and  reconstructing  if  the  women 
are  left  out  of  the  account.^  The  woman  worker  has 
filled  a  big  place  in  the  war  enterprise;  she  has  been 
told  this  over  and  over  again,  and  she  admits  it.  She 
doesn't  for  one  little  bit  see  herself  as  merely  an  in- 
cident in  the  industrial  happenings  of  the  moment; 
nor  does  she  look  upon  her  own  peculiar  industrial 
requirements  as  second  to  those  of  her  male  fellow 
worker.  Men  may  propose  this  or  that,  and  they  do, 
but  these  women  war  workers  have  come  to  be  con- 
siderable disposers,  and  likewise  alert  and  astute  pro- 
posers themselves.  Before  the  war  there  were  six 
million  women  workers  in  the  United  Kingdom,  not 
far  from  a  third  of  them  in  domestic  service.  For  the 
actual  replacement  of  men  who  had  been  called  away 
for  military  service  eight  hundred  thousand  women 
were  taken  on.  Some  will  go  now,  others  will  stay. 
Figures  can  be  only  guesswork  just  at  present.  I  asked 
an  intelligent-looking,  fine-faced  woman,  filing  deli- 
cate turbine  blades  in  an  engine  shop,  what  she  ex- 
pected to  do  when  the  war  was  over. 

"Well,  sir,"  she  replied  deliberately  as  she  laid  down 
her  file  and  started  to  wipe  her  spectacles,  ''I  came 
here  to  help  out  in  the  war,  and  I  have  been  working 
here  for  three  years.  If  any  soldier  comes  back  or 
any  wounded  man  from  the  service  I  will  give  up  my 
place  to  him.  I  counted  on  doing  that  when  I  came 
here.  But  if  any  other  kind  of  a  man  wants  this  place 
— well,  I  have  as  much  right  to  live  as  he  has." 

Where  did  the  woman's  industrial  army  come  from? 
As  nearly  as  one  can  figure  it  out  more  than  one  hun- 

1  See  page  253.  Eeport  of  a  conference  on  The  Position  of  Women  in 
Industry  after  the  War. 


26  MANAGEMENT  AM)  MEN 

drod  thousand  women  came  from  the  ranks  of  house- 
hold servants;  a  large  number  had  Vjeen  working  in  a 
small  way  for  themselves ;  girls  came  from  school  and 
farm  and  fishing  village;  women  from  their  husband- 
less  homes;  thousands  who  had  no  need  of  the  wage 
came  for  patriotic  reasons,  because  the  country  called 
them.  They  have  all  of  them  earned  their  salt.  They 
have  made  good.  It  is  a  safe  guess  to  say  that  women 
will  from  now  on  be  in  industry  in  greater  numbers 
than  ever  before.  Many  trades  will  be  short-handed 
for  some  time  to  come.  They  will  want  the  women. 
Suspended  or  reduced  industries  will  soon  be  brisk 
again  and  they  are  glad  to  have  the  workers  who  have 
given  such  a  good  account  of  themselves  in  difficult 
trades.  The  question  of  wages  will  be  a  knotty  one  to 
settle,  and  many  adjustments  will  have  to  be  made 
day  by  day. 

Woman  is  no  longer  an  accident  in  industry.  She 
has  come  to  stay,  and  to  take  her  place  alongside  the 
man  in  all  schemes,  plans,  projects  and  programs  which 
may  be  forthcoming.  She  asks  no  favors.  All  she 
insists  on  is  a  reasonably  rapid  acknowledgment  of  the 
fact  that  she  has  arrived,  and  she  is  strong  in  the  con- 
viction that  her  attaining  industrial  majority  will  be 
to  the  good  all  around. 

There  have  been  exaggerated  impressions  as  to  the 
substitution  of  men  by  women.  At  the  most,  replace- 
ment by  women  of  skilled  men  has  not  been  large. 
The  increase  in  the  machine  trades,  for  example,  has 
been  almost  entirely  due  to  shell  making,  which  in- 
volves working,  for  the  most  part,  automatic  or  semi- 
automatic machinery.  So  far  as  shipbuilding  is  con- 
cerned, the  number  of  women  is  negligible.     The  po- 


FROM  WAR  TO  WORK  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN      27 

sition  of  the  skilled  craftsman  is  not  seriously  preju- 
diced by  the  competition  of  the  woman  worker,  except 
as  processes  are  broken  up  and  simplified  so  they  call 
for  less  general  skill.  Whatever  competition  occurs 
between  men  and  women  workers  will  be  found  on  the 
levels  of  unskill  or  semi-skill,  and  here  labor-saving 
machinery  is  likely  to  play  a  big  part  in  the  near  fu- 
ture. 

When  the  Mexican  peon  has  made  his  three  or  four 
days'  wages  he  is  ready  to  knock  off,  take  his  ease  in 
his  little  neighborhood  grog  shop,  bask  in  its  sunny 
dooryard,  and  call  it  a  week.  He  sees  no  reason  for 
extending  himself  beyond  w^hat  is  needed  just  to  keep 
him  and  perhaps  his  wife  and  children.  If  a  few  days ' 
work  will  do  it,  so  much  the  better.  When  his  pockets 
are  empty  and  the  liquor  has  w^orked  itself  off,  the  call 
of  the  job  is  heard  once  more.  The  problem  of  alco- 
hol is  not  a  simple  one  to  deal  with  anywhere ;  the  evils 
to  which  it  gives  rise  are  too  deeply  rooted  for  any 
simple  statement  of  remedies.  We  may  be  certain 
of  this,  whatever  experts  and  laymen,  reformers  and 
standpatters  may  say  on  the  subject — the  words  of  a 
mine  boss  I  once  heard  in  a  Western  copper  country 
to  a  miner  reeling  toward  the  cage  shaft  hold  true: 
''See  here,  son,  booze  and  mining  can't  work  the  same 
shift." 

Great  Britain  has  to  face  the  drink  question  as  one 
of  its  huge  reconstruction  jobs.  Industry  cannot  come 
back  to  normal  and  better  conditions  with  its  pre-war 
drink  load  as  it  was.  Employers  and  many  labor  of- 
ficials realize  this.  One  of  the  largest  employers  in 
England  told  a  group  of  people  the  other  day  gath- 
ered to  consider  this  question  that  Great  Britain  could 


28  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

not  hold  her  own  with  the  United  States  unless  the  al- 
cohol traliic  was  suppressed. 

"Whatever  may  be  said  for  the  public  house,  the 
club  and  the  home  as  regards  drink,  let  us  not  forget 
that  we  have  lost  one  million  productive  men,  and 
about  half  this  number  in  disabled.  We  may  be  im- 
poverished industrially.  America  has  lost  much  less, 
she  is  rich  and  growing  richer — and  is  going  dry. 
Does  any  one  believe  that  we  can  compete  with  her  on 
any  equal  terms  if  we  let  drink  grip  us  as  it  did  be- 
fore?" 

There  is  a  strong  campaign  on  for  a  national-health 
bill.  Lloyd  George  has  thrown  himself  into  this  cam- 
paign with  vigor  and  with  a  lively  sense  of  its  im- 
portance to  the  British  Empire's  industrial  restora- 
tion. "What  is  the  first  thing  the  great  war  has  shown 
us?"  he  said  the  other  day.  "The  appalling  waste  of 
human  material  in  this  country.  Those  who  were  in 
charge  of  recruiting  came  to  the  conclusion  that  if  the 
people  of  this  country  had  lived  under  proper  condi- 
tions, were  properly  fed  and  housed,  and  lived  under 
healthy  conditions  free  from  various  evils  and  conse- 
quent diseases,  had  lived  their  lives  in  the  full  vigor 
— you  could  have  had  a  million  more  men  available  and 
fit  to  put  into  the  army.  There  are  millions  who  are 
below  par.  You  cannot  bring  up  children  under  bad 
conditions.  Put  it  at  its  lowest,  all  trade,  commerce, 
industry — they  all  suffer  through  it." 

The  liquor  business  is  coming  under  public  control. 
Such  regulation  as  was  exercised  during  the  war,  with 
a  reduction  in  the  supply  and  a  lowering  of  the  alco- 
hol content  of  beverages,  effected  at  once  a  reduction 


FROM  WAR  TO  WORK  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN      29 

in  arrests  for  drunkenness  of  men  and  women  to  one- 
third  of  the  pre-war  figures,  deaths  from  alcoholism  to 
one-fourth,  and  insanity  from  the  same  cause  to  one- 
half.  From  the  side  of  industry,  regularity  of  attend- 
ance, or  '' time-keeping"  as  it  is  called  here,  practically 
doubled. 

Steady  employment  under  the  best  possible  condi- 
tions is  the  demand  of  every  worker  and  of  every 
worker's  spokesman  in  this  country.  It  is  a  well- 
founded  demand.  To  bring  this  about  is  to  steady  this 
country  as  it  has  not  known  steadiness  for  decades. 
Every  intelligent  employer  believes  in  this  demand, 
for  he  knows  that  there  will  be  little  chance  to  make 
the  wheels  of  industry  hum  and  keep  humming  without 
a  settlement  of  this  universal  hope. 

What  does  labor  ask  of  industry!  It  has  formu- 
lated its  program.  Here  it  is  in  a  nutshell:  The 
throwing  open  of  lands  for  use  and  development  by  the 
people;  a  public-health  act  to  prevent  preventable  ill- 
ness ;  a  million  new  houses  built  at  public  expense  and 
let  at  fair  rents ;  nationalization  of  the  public  services, 
mines,  railways,  shipping,  armaments  and  electric 
power;  extension  of  trade  unionism;  a  national  mini- 
mum wage  for  each  industry  based  on  determinations 
by  industrial  boards  sitting  for  each  industry;  aboli- 
tion of  the  menace  of  unemployment ;  limitation  of  the 
hours  of  labor;  drastic  overhauling  of  the  various 
laws  dealing  with  factory  conditions,  safety  and  work- 
men's compensation;  enlargement  of  the  cooperative 
movement ;  international  labor  legislation  to  deal  with 
the  competition  of  sweated  goods ;  revision  of  taxation 
upward;  and  equal  treatment  of  men  and  women  in 
government  and  in  industry. 


30  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

These  purjjosea  the  spokesmen  of  the  British  labor 
forces  have  set  themselves  the  task  of  bringing  about 
through  tlie  power  of  their  vote.  They  look  to  the 
method  of  parliamentary  action  as  the  means  for  ac- 
complishing their  aims  and  program.  Any  other 
method  than  that  which  democracy  holds  out  is  in  their 
judgment  suicidal.  Only  by  keeping  industry  free 
from  dislocation  can  any  benefits  come  or  last. 

The  war  has  shown  the  vastness  of  the  slack  or  re- 
serve energy  which  can  be  used  for  the  national  need. 
The  repair  of  the  deteriorated  or  damaged  fabric  of 
industry,  the  furnishing  of  new  capital  for  expanded 
ventures  in  foreign  trade,  modernizing  industrial 
plants,  new  taxation  burdens  of  the  war  legacy,  the 
high  rate  of  interest  which  must  prevail — these  things 
will  make  it  impossible  to  continue  the  level  of  real 
wages  and  standard  of  comfort  which  have  reached 
down  to  classes  formerly  quite  submerged  in  the  scale 
of  industry,  without  a  very  large  increase  in  the  ag- 
gregate product.  Labor  and  capital  are  busy  with 
solutions  of  this  huge  problem.  Never  before  have 
groups  of  industrial  captains  and  representatives  of 
workmen  been  so  much  in  conference  as  they  are  dur- 
ing these  days.  They  are  busy  sizing  up  the  problem 
and  laying  down  the  rules  of  the  game.  Both  sides 
have  learned  lessons  of  value  out  of  their  war  experi- 
ence. They  accept  the  proposition  of  better  and  more 
efficient  work,  a  larger  use  of  the  man  power  of  the 
country,  better  organization  and  discipline  of  the  labor 
forces,  more  enterprise  and  wisdom  on  the  part  of 
managers  and  employers,  a  larger  application  of  sci- 
ence to  industry,  better  industrial  training — these  are 
the  topics  they  confer  about,  knowing  that  to  settle 


FROM  WAR  TO  WORK  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN      31 

these  matters  is  to  assure  the  production  which  alone 
means  prosperity  for  all. 

These  issues  are  not  new  of  course.  They  were 
ripening  before  the  war.  For  a  long  time  warnings 
of  the  rapid  strides  made  by  Germany  and  the  United 
States  had  been  uttered.  But  there  was  too  much 
self-complacency  to  give  heed.  Even  government 
figures  had  shown  that  the  nation's  output  of  wealth 
was  not  enough,  even  if  ideally  distributed,  to  provide 
a  satisfactory  standard  of  comfort. 

The  century-long  fight  against  poverty  was  only  a 
preliminary  skirmish.  The  war  has  proved  to  be  its 
most  effective  antagonist.  By  the  middle  of  1918  ap- 
plications for  pauper  relief  had  fallen  to  two-thirds 
those  received  in  1914.  It  is  not  against  poverty  that 
the  minds  of  employers,  employed  and  statesmen  are 
now  directed.  Funds  started  early  in  the  war  to 
relieve  cases  of  hardship  due  to  war  causes  have  re- 
mained untouched.  The  big  problem  now  is  one  of 
intelligent  teamplay  and  cooperation. 

Extremists  on  both  sides  may  make  the  work  of  re- 
construction difficult.  If  they  succeed  they  will  have 
chaos  for  their  pains.  For  capital  it  would  mean  par- 
alysis ;  for  labor  untold  privations ;  for  all  concerned  a 
wrecking  of  the  springs  of  production  out  of  which 
comforts  come. 

The  way  of  hope  lies  along  an  industrial  policy  which 
reckons  with  the  new  viewpoint  and  new  possibilities 
of  mutual  arrangement  based  on  respect  for  what  each 
factor  in  industry  means  to  the  other.  Level-headed 
men  in  all  camps  subscribe  to  this  view  and  are  com- 
mitted to  this  procedure.  A  competent  authority  con- 
sulted by  all  industrial  leaders  here  has  said:     *'To 


32  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

hold  the  balance  true  between  the  economic  and  the  hu- 
man side  of  the  problem;  to  increase  at  once  the  ex- 
tent and  the  quality  of  the  output ;  to  make  the  work  of 
each  man  in  any  position  an  integral  and  worthy  part 
of  his  life  as  a  citizen — this  is  a  task  for  us  as  truly 
national  as  that  of  victory  in  war." 


CHAPTER  II 

MORE    OUTPUT 

IN  August,  1914,  a  certain  Midland  city  of  England, 
noted  for  its  big  trade  in  textiles,  started  to  put 
itself  on  a  war  basis.  By  the  close  of  the  war  its 
weekly  output  of  munitions  was  as  follows :  One  hun- 
dred and  twenty  thousand  shells;  twelve  million  fuse 
components ;  one  hundred  tank  shells ;  twenty-five  tank 
gear  boxes;  fifty  searchlights;  two  hundred  machine- 
gun  emplacements;  half  a  million  airplane  details. 

To  a  people  like  the  British — and  this  was  the  case 
with  us — war-making  meant  some  tall  improvising. 
A  church  decorator  turned  out  ten  completed  flying 
machines  each  week;  a  water-meter  factory  supplied 
millions  of  fuses ;  a  plant  normally  busy  with  the  mak- 
ing of  wire  netting  soon  became  a  principal  producer 
of  airplane  parts;  grain  elevators  became  shell  fac- 
tories; a  plant  noted  for  its  shoe  machinery  handled 
gun  mountings;  paper  makers  became  trench-bomb 
manufacturers ;  and  a  large  cloth  mill  made  a  reputa- 
tion for  its  hand  grenades.  An  old  malt  house,  em- 
ploying six  hundred  women,  had  begun  to  supply  fifty 
thousand  fuses  weekly  when  a  fire  burned  it  to  the 
ground.  Within  a  few  days  a  skating  rink  near  by 
took  its  place. 

The  stress  of  war  has  blown  new  life  into  British 
industry.  What  had  been  accepted  as  a  matter  of 
course — dependence,  for  example,  upon  Germany  for 

33 


34  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

the  supply  of  certain  industrial  essentials — has  given 
way  to  a  new  spirit  of  self-reliance  and  enterprise. 
Mica  is  absolutely  necessary  to  the  electrical  industry. 
India  produces  fifty  per  cent  of  this  article,  Canada 
fifteen  per  cent  and  German  East  Africa  ten  per  cent. 
Yet  the  mica  market  was  all  but  moved  from  London 
to  Hamburg,  owing  to  the  skill  with  which  Germany 
had  captured  the  control  of  the  Indian  mica  trade  and 
laid  her  plans  for  dominating  the  electrical  industry. 
At  present  mica  from  the  Indian  Empire  can  be  ex- 
ported to  London  only.  To  her  capture  of  the  tung- 
sten industry  Germany  owed  in  large  measure  her 
superiority  in  munitions  production  in  the  early  stages 
of  the  war.  Great  Britain  to-day  produces  all  the  high- 
speed steel  needed  for  her  industries  and  can  export 
at  reasonable  prices  a  large  supply  to  her  Allies.  Be- 
fore the  war  the  United  Kingdom's  production  of 
ferrochrome,  basic  in  the  manufacture  of  certain 
steels,  was  a  negligible  quantity.  There  is  a  plant  to- 
day at  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  the  power  for  which  is 
obtained  from  the  waste  gases  of  coke  ovens,  turning 
out  a  sufficient  quantity  of  ferrochrome  to  take  care  of 
all  British  requirements  for  years  to  come. 

Out  of  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand  tons  of 
spelter  in  various  forms  used  annually  before  the  war 
seventy-seven  per  cent  was  imported,  chiefly  from  Ger- 
many, Belgium  and  Holland.  Now  the  flow  of  Aus- 
tralian concentrates  has  been  completed  diverted  from 
Germany  to  England,  and  there  has  taken  place  a 
doubling  and  in  some  cases  a  trebling  of  British  zinc- 
smelting  plants.  A  long  step  forward  has  been  taken 
in  eliminating  Germany  as  a  provider  of  potash.  The 
Stassfurt  mines  used  to   send  over  thirtv  thousand 


MORE  OUTPUT  35 

tons  of  potash  annually.  It  has  been  found,  however, 
that  fifty  thousand  tons  of  potash  were  going  to  waste 
each  year  in  the  dust  or  fumes  from  blast-furnace 
gases.  Plants  have  been  started  or  made  over  to  save 
at  least  eighteen  thousand  tons  from  this  source  alone. 

Among  the  close  calls  England  suffered  in  the  course 
of  the  war  one  of  the  most  menacing  arose  out  of  its 
former  dependence  on  Germany  and  Austria  for  scien- 
tific and  optical  glass.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  a 
large  part  of  the  British  artillery  was  equipped  with 
gun  sights  manufactured  exclusively  in  Germany. 
British  output  of  this  vital  product  to-day  has  multi- 
plied twenty  times,  and  the  country  is  self-supporting 
so  far  as  the  finer  grades  of  glass  are  concerned. 

Much  might  be  written  about  the  big  changes  of  a 
mechanical  kind — changes  in  labor-saving  devices,  im- 
proved machinery,  analyses  of  minute  manufacturing 
costs,  greater  accuracy  of  workmanship  and  better  in- 
dustrial organization.  Mechanical  conveyors  are  be- 
ing used  in  shop  transport  to  an  extent  never  dreamed 
of  or  encouraged  before  the  war.  Electric  trucks  are 
common  where  once  swarms  of  men,  and  women,  too, 
perspired  over  clumsy  loads.  A  new  interest  in  in- 
dustrial research  has  led  to  the  starting  of  plant  labor- 
atories and  arrangements  for  cooperation  with  the 
technical  schools. 

A  transformation  of  British  industry  is  under  way, 
and  there  is  a  changing  viewpoint  both  on  the  part  of 
employer  and  employed  as  to  the  big  problem  ahead. 
In  a  literal  sense  the  war  has  paid  for — paid  in  full — 
paid  for  by  the  lives  of  brave  men;  paid  for  by  the 
limbs  and  physical  senses  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
youth  in  their  prime ;  paid  for  by  hours  of  toil  of  men 


36  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

and  women  and  children  in  shops  and  mines,  fields  and 
highways;  and  paid  for  by  the  thousands  of  millions 
of  gold  thrown  into  the  war  furnace.  The  debt  alone 
remains. 

Now  it  is  elementary  economics  to  say  that  payment 
of  a  debt  can  finally  be  made  in  one  way  only — in  goods. 
There  is  no  other  way.  Production  is  the  only  answer. 
All  debts  are  finally  liquidated  in  terms  of  things  made. 
Be  productive  and  all  things  shall  be  added  unto  you. 
This  commandment  cannot  be  trifled  with  without  gen- 
eral misery  as  the  penalty.  But  there  is  human  nature 
to  reckon  with,  and  the  practices  with  which  it  incases 
itself;  and  this  human  nature  is  no  monopoly  of  any 
aggregation  of  men. 

We  may  be  as  glib  as  we  please  about  the  necessity 
of  production — no  one  gainsays  it — but  living  up  to  all 
that  it  implies  calls  for  a  considerable  amount  of  self- 
criticism.  Things  being  as  they  are,  the  business  of 
turning  out  goods  sufficient  in  quantity  and  quality  to 
pay  mountainous  obligations  and  give  all  concerned 
the  wherewithal  to  enjoy  a  decent  standard  of  life  and 
supply  incentive  for  exertion  requires  a  certain  ** meet- 
ing of  the  minds,"  as  the  lawyers  put  it;  a  getting  to- 
gether of  the  parties  chiefly  concerned  with  this  pro- 
ducing business  in  order  to  lay  down  the  rules  of  the 
game,  to  draw  up,  as  it  were,  the  constitution  under 
which  said  parties  agree  to  live  and  work  together  and 
forward  the  common  business,  as  far  as  there  is  any 
intention  of  a  common  purpose  between  and  among 
them. 

War  wastage  means  a  huge  bill  for  replacement  and 
restoration — at  least  it  does  to  a  people  who  will  not 
go  under ;  and  this  bill  can  be  met  only  through  a  lively 


MORE  OUTPUT  37 

speeding  up  of  industrial  activities.  And  this  speed- 
ing up  depends  on  the  ideas  and  enthusiasms,  or  their 
lack,  which  animate  or  depress  the  parties  to  the  task. 

A  good  deal  has  been  said  about  restrictions  on  out- 
put practised  by  workingmen  and  their  organizations. 
The  blame  has  been  generally  laid  on  the  shoulders  of 
one  party  alone.  The  fact  is  that  workingmen  have 
universally  condemned  such  restriction,  or  what  looked 
like  it,  perpetrated  by  their  own  employers.  They  saw, 
with  the  clearness  of  experts,  how  deadening  to  effi- 
cient production  have  been  the  conservatism  in  meth- 
ods ;  retention  of  plants  long  out  of  date,  inconvenient 
in  their  design  and  wasteful  in  their  demands  on  time 
and  on  energy  which  should  have  gone  into  the  work 
itself;  they  saw  an  unwillingness  to  make  needed  al- 
terations, scrap  antiquated  tools  and  adopt  the  best 
current  practice.  They  have  been  subjected  to  dead- 
ening influences  all  around.  They  know  it  and  speak 
of  it.  Good  workmen  do  not  want  to  stay  long  in  such 
places,  because  some  protective  craft  instinct  tells  them 
that  their  own  skill  will  suffer  if  they  do.  The  truth 
is  that  men  who  have  spent  years  at  a  trade  and  who 
take  pride  in  their  workmanship  are  among  the  best 
critics  of  equipment,  methods  and  managerial  stand- 
ards. 

No  one  defends  the  go-slow  policy;  no  one  believes 
that  good  can  come  out  of  a  dishonest  attitude  toward 
one's  work  and  contract.  Condemnation  is  general, 
nowlirre  more  outspoken  than  among  enlightened 
workmen.  But  this  does  not  tell  the  whole  story. 
We  must  understand  what  is  in  the  minds  of  the  men 
who  by  unwritten  law  or  hardened  custom  put  brakes 
on  the  wheels  of  industry;  and  by  understanding  we 


38  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

do  not  condone  a  mutually  disastrous  situation,  but  are 
in  a  position  to  deal  with  it  intelligently.  In  the  first 
])lace  it  is  no  longer  startling  to  say  that  long  hours 
of  work  defeat  their  ends.  For  a  long  time  agitation 
against  long  hours  was  based  largely  on  humanitarian 
grounds.  Not  until  clear-sighted  employers  proved 
to  their  own  satisfaction  and  the  satisfaction  of  their 
fellow  employers  that  there  was  a  point  beyond  which 
the  labor  of  men  became  a  liability  instead  of  an  asset 
was  this  movement  lifted  into  the  realm  of  the  prac- 
tical. Sir  Robert  Hatfield  told  a  group  of  business 
men  the  other  day  how  his  adoption  of  the  eight-hour 
day  twenty-five  years  ago  led  to  the  present  gigantic 
size  of  his  organization.  Workingmen  had  long  felt 
that  they  could  do  better  work  if  they  had  an  oppor- 
tunity for  rest,  familj^  life  and  self-improvement. 
But  there  were  men  of  influence  who  dreaded  the  effect 
of  a  shorter  workday  on  their  own  production  and  the 
demoralization  which  they  believed  would  come  with 
leisure.  These  fears,  spoken  freely  for  decades  past 
in  this  land  of  liberty-loving  men,  have  rankled  deeply. 
They  have  been  stupid  fears,  stupidly  maintained,  and 
have  done  harm.  Enough  to  say,  workmen  do  not 
wish  to  have  any  such  paternal  concern  for  their  wel- 
fare, they  do  not  need  it  and  they  resent  it  bitterly. 
Furthermore,  the  example  of  the  most  successful  em- 
ployers has  proved  that  greater  production  depends 
on  greater  all-around  efficiency  rather  than  on  the 
number  of  hours  worked. 

The  war  was  not  three  months  old  before  the  prob- 
lem of  increasing  the  production  of  munitions  in  Great 
Britain  became  a  burning  issue.  More  material  had 
to  be  got  out  of  the  factories  and  more  work  out  of  the 


MORE  OUTPUT  39 

men.  The  two  hung  together,  for  though  improved 
methods  might  in  themselves  result  in  an  increased 
output,  the  essential  reform  was  a  redoubling  of  ef- 
fort by  the  men  who  controlled  the  methods. 

There  was  no  question  whether  the  men  were  cap- 
able of  increased  effort.  They  were  capable.  And  yet 
with  the  war  in  full  swing  and  the  armies  in  vital  need 
of  munitions  the  factories  were  still  running  well  be 
low  the  level  of  their  maximum  capacity.  The  ob- 
stacle in  the  path  was  the  trade-union  restrictions,  a 
subject  on  which  throughout  the  war  misunderstand- 
ing has  prevailed  and  much  bitterness  has  been  en- 
gendered. 

The  restrictions  themselves  had  a  reasonable  origin. 
They  sprang  from  the  workmen's  perpetual  fear  of 
unemployment,  combined  with  the  belief — sometimes 
baseless,  sometimes  only  too  well  grounded — that  the 
employer's  constant  aim  was  to  exact  from  his  em- 
ployees the  greatest  possible  amount  of  work  and  pay 
them  the  lowest  possible  wages.  To  counter  those  real 
or  imaginary  dangers  the  different  unions  in  self -pro- 
tection evolved  gradually  a  formidable  series  of  trade 
customs  and  usages,  designed  to  guard  their  members 
against  the  allied  perils  of  unemployment  and  over- 
strain. 

That  system  of  trade  customs  embraced  not  only  the 
standard  rates  of  wages  and  the  length  of  the  normal 
working  day,  together  with  the  arrangements  for  over- 
time, night  work,  Sunday  duty,  mealtimes  and  holi- 
days, but  also  the  exact  classes  of  operatives — appren- 
ticed or  skilled,  semi-skilled  or  unskilled,  laborers  or 
women — to  be  engaged  or  not  to  be  engaged  for  vari- 
ous kinds  of  work,  upon  particular  processes  or  with 


40  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

different  types  of  machine;  wlielhor  nonunionists 
should  be  employed  at  all ;  what  process  should  be  em- 
ployed i'or  particular  tasks;  what  machines  should  be 
used  for  particular  jobs;  how  the  machines  should  be 
placed  in  relation  to  each  other  and  the  speed  at  which 
they  should  work;  whether  one  operative  should  com- 
plete a  whole  job  or  form  part  of  a  team  of  specialized 
operatives,  each  doing  a  different  process;  what  wages, 
if  any,  should  be  paid  in  the  interval  between  jobs  or 
while  waiting  for  material;  and  what  notice  of  termina- 
tion of  engagement  should  be  given;  whether  boys  or 
girls  should  be  employed  at  all,  or  in  what  processes  or 
with  what  machines,  or  in  what  proportion  to  tlie  adult 
workmen. 

These  customs  decided  whether  the  remuneration 
should  be  by  time  or  by  the  piece,  and  under  what  con- 
ditions, at  what  rates  and  with  what  allowances;  and 
perhaps,  where  they  existed,  most  severely  criticized 
of  all,  but  by  no  means  universally  existing,  what 
amount  of  output  by  each  operative  should  be  con- 
sidered a  fair  day's  work,  not  to  be  considerably  ex- 
ceeded under  penalty  of  the  serious  displeasure  of  the 
workshop. 

In  no  union  had  the  practices  falling  under  the  head 
of  restriction  of  output  been  more  systematically  de- 
veloped or  become  more  firmly  established  than  in  the 
powerful  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers,  the 
union,  as  it  happened,  concerned  beyond  any  other  in 
the  output  of  munitions.  It  was  manifest  that  war 
conditions  meant  an  immediate  challenge  to  the  ma- 
chinists' whole  position.  Between  union  rules  for  re- 
striction of  output  and  national  demands  for  a  maxi- 
mum output  there  could  be  no  accommodation.     The 


MORE  OUTPUT  41 

situation  was  perplexing  and  perilous.  The  na\y 
wanted  more  ships,  tlie  army  wanted  more  shells,  more 
explosives,  more  machine  guns,  more  aeroplanes,  and 
in  face  of  that  overwhelming  need  the  men  were  stand- 
ing obdurately  on  their  rights,  "imperiling  the  lives  of 
their  sons  and  brothers  at  the  Front  rather  than  brace 
themselves  to  work  up  to  the  limit  of  their  strength  or 
let  their  unskilled  comrades  share  the  high  wages  they 
were  drawing. ' ' 

So  argued  day  after  day  speakers  and  writers  who 
saw  only  one  side  of  the  question  and  had  neither 
knowledge  of  nor  regard  for  the  other.  For  there  was 
another  side,  and  it  consisted  in  this:  The  customs 
prevailing  in  the  engineering  trade  represented  rights 
won  after  years,  almost  after  generations,  of  conflict 
with  the  emploj^ers.  Bit  by  bit,  as  often  as  not  as  the 
result  of  some  successful  strike,  the  fabric  of  trade- 
union  privileges  had  been  built  up;  and  the  whole  of 
the  position  so  secured  the  men  were  now  asked  to 
abandon  without  a  protest.  They  were  to  drop  back 
into  the  conditions  of  twenty  years  ago,  and  that  with- 
out any  semblance  of  a  binding  guaranty  that  when 
the  war  was  over  the  rights  they  had  relinquished 
would  be  restored. 

But  much  more  than  merely  that  was  involved. 
That  the  abandonment  of  "demarkation"  restrictions 
and  the  admission  of  unskilled  men,  perhaps  even  of 
women,  into  the  closed  preserves  of  the  skilled,  to- 
gether with  the  abolition  of  limitation  of  output,  would 
lead  to  an  expansion  in  the  production  of  munitions 
nobody  doubted.  But  that  it  might  lead  coincidently 
to  a  substantial  inflation  of  the  employers'  profits  was 
equally  certain  to  the  minds  of  the  workers;  and  the 


42  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

expansion  of  the  employers'  profits  was  not  an  object 
for  which  the  men  were  prepared  to  sacrifice  the  fruits 
of  all  their  earlier  industrial  victories. 

On  those  rocks  the  first  attempts  of  the  employers, 
in  December,  1914,  to  secure  the  cooperation  of  the  men 
in  the  reorganization  of  workshop  conditions  came  to 
grief.  The  unions  demanded  more  binding  guaranties 
of  restitution  than  the  employers  were  able  to  give, 
and  the  negotiations  made  no  substantial  progress  till 
the  government  itself  took  the  matter  up  some  three 
months  later.  As  the  result  of  its  efforts  an  agree- 
ment, as  I  pointed  out  in  a  previous  chapter,  was 
eventually  signed — by  Mr.  Lloyd  George  and  Mr.  Run- 
ciman  on  behalf  of  the  cabinet,  and  Mr.  Arthur  Hen- 
derson and  Mr.  Mosses  representing  the  men — that 
forms  the  basis  of  the  whole  structure  of  work-shop 
organization  built  up  during  the  war  period. 

That  agreement  provided,  in  a  sentence,  that  men 
engaged  on  war  work  should  suspend  for  the  whole 
duration  of  hostilities  a  number  of  specified  practices 
which  impede  production,  on  the  explicit  guaranty  by 
the  government  of  full  and  complete  restitution  in 
every  particular  at  the  end  of  tlie  war  period.  In 
return  the  government  on  its  part  undertook  to  devise 
a  scheme  of  taxation  which  would  insure  that  the  profits 
derived  from  the  men's  increased  efforts  should  go  not 
into  the  pockets  of  the  employers  but  into  the  national 
exchequer. 

Under  this  compact,  which  was  embodied  in  the  Mu- 
nitions of  War  Act  and  has  been  amplified  and  ex- 
tended from  time  to  time,  the  whole  fabric  of  trade- 
union  customs  and  usages  has  been  jettisoned  for  the 
period  of  the  war.    Munition  Courts  have  been  es- 


r 


MORE  OUTPUT  43 

tablished  to  deal  with  the  breaches  of  the  agreement, 
strikes  were  for  a  considerable  period  declared  illegal 
and  arbitration  was  made  compulsory;  while  to  pre- 
vent ''poaching"  by  employers  a  system  of  "leaving 
certificates"  was  instituted  under  which  no  man  leav- 
ing his  employment  against  his  employer's  will  and 
without  good  cause  shown  could  be  given  work  within 
the  next  six  weeks  by  any  employer  to  whom  the  regu- 
lation applied.  These  particular  restrictions,  under 
which  the  men  became  increasingly  restive,  were  sub- 
sequently modified,  but  the  workman  still  remained  un- 
der a  discipline  that  formed  a  sharp  contrast  to  his  pre- 
war freedom  and  independence. 

To  enumerate  the  details  of  the  temporary  revolu- 
tion would  take  too  much  space.  It  is  enough  to  recall 
the  main  heads  of  the  change,  such  as  the  introduction 
of  women  and  laborers  to  do  expert  work  under  the 
supervision  of  skilled  craftsmen;  the  establishment  of 
new  machinery ;  the  change  of  processes  and  the  break- 
ing up  of  jobs  to  admit  of  the  employment  of  the  un- 
skilled; the  substitution  of  piecework  and  bonus  sys- 
tem for  time  rates ;  the  increase  in  the  hours  of  labor 
and  variation  in  the  rates  for  overtime;  the  speeding 
up  of  production ;  the  abolition  of  all  artificial  restric- 
tions on  output ;  and  the  suspension  of  all  demarkation 
regulations. 

That  has  been  the  position  in  the  munitions  industry 
throughout  the  war,  the  term  munitions  being  used 
here  in  the  British  sense  to  cover  almost  every  form 
of  direct  war  work.  There  can  be  no  question  that 
the  war  changes  have  added  enormously  to  the  mechan- 
ical efficiency  of  industry,  and  if  mechanical  efficiency 
were  the  only  aim  to  be  considered  the  case  for  their 


44  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

retention  would  be  overwhelming.  That  statement, 
however,  needs  qualification  in  at  least  one  important 
particular:  The  physical  strain  placed  on  the  work- 
ers has  been  maintained  without  disastrous  results  for 
three  to  four  years,  but  that  does  not  mean  that  it 
could  be  maintained  indefinitely  without  grave  detri- 
ment both  to  health  and  to  output.  The  investiga- 
tions into  the  health  of  the  workers,  conducted  by  an 
able  committee  presided  over  by  Sir  George  Newman, 
Chief  Medical  Officer  of  the  Board  of  Education,  made 
it  clear  that  such  practices  as  seven-days-a-week  work 
have  not  even  the  advantage  of  an  increased  output  to 
recommend  them. 

In  any  case,  the  question  is  not  worth  arguing  on  that 
level,  for  no  sane  man  would  concentrate  on  industrial 
efficiency  to  the  exclusion  of  every  other  aim  in  con- 
sidering the  labor  problem  in  peacetime.  What  the 
workingman  is  concerned  about  is  not  only  how  to  earn 
the  highest  possible  wages  but  also  how  to  live  the 
best  balanced  life.  He  insists  on  the  restoration  of 
the  established  customs  and  usages.  High-tension 
pressure  and  no  restrictions  may  be  necessary  in  war, 
but  they  are  not  going  to  continue  into  peace.  That 
is  the  workman's  view,  and  that  is  the  condition  on 
which  new  contracts  with  employers  will  be  made. 

Here  lies  the  justification  for  the  men's  demand  for 
a  complete  restitution,  though  it  is  impossible,  of  the 
rights  they  have  surrendered — a  demand  which  the 
government  is  not  in  a  position  to  resist.  The  provi- 
sions of  the  government 's  agreement  with  the  men  were 
specific.  They  undertook  to  restore  without  qualifica- 
tion or  subtraction  every  custom  and  practice  the  men 
abandoned  under  the  1915  agreement.     The  time  has 


MORE  OUTPUT  45 

come  for  the  redemption  of  that  pledge.  The  govern- 
ment, indeed,  after  repeated  promises  and  postpone- 
ments, did  on  the  eve  of  the  general  election  lay  before 
a  conference  of  the  men's  representatives  the  draft  of 
a  bill  designed  to  give  effect  to  their  undertaking.  The 
men,  after  a  careful  examination,  considered  it  in  many 
important  respects  unsatisfactory,  and  it  had  not  been 
laid  before  Parliament  when  the  session  ended.  The 
result  of  the  delay  is  that  hundreds  of  manufacturers 
are  unable  to  plan  out  their  contracts  because  they  are 
entirely  in  the  dark  as  to  what  the  labor  conditions 
will  be. 

One  solution  of  the  problem  is  always  open:  The 
government  can  fulfil  its  pledges  to  the  letter  and  re- 
establish every  abandoned  trade  usage  as  it  existed  in 
July,  1914.  That,  unfortunately,  may  prove  in  the 
end  to  be  the  only  course  possible.  But  in  the  mean- 
time there  is  a  good  deal  of  natural  reluctance  to  do 
any  such  thing,  for  to  fall  back  to  the  conditions  of 
1914  would  be  to  fetter  industry  at  the  moment  when  it 
is  very  essential  that  it  should  be  left  free  and  elastic. 
The  task  before  managers  and  men  is  to  decide  how 
to  profit  in  common  and  in  agreement  by  the  experi- 
ence of  the  war. 

On  that  no  satisfactory  result  will  be  arrived  at  on 
the  basis  of  an  enforced  compromise.  The  men  claim 
that  if  they  are  to  surrender  any  of  the  rights  of  the 
past  the  surrender  must  be  absolutely  voluntary,  and 
it  must  be  made  after,  not  before,  the  title  to  complete 
restoration  has  been  accorded  them  by  an  Act  of  Par- 
liament.^ 

1  See  page  269.  Labor's  Pronouncement  on  the  Restoration  of  Trade 
Union  Customs  after  the  War. 


46  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

There  is  a  great  deal  to  be  said  for  tliat  contention, 
for  a  true  labor  settlement  would  go  far  beyond  even 
the  wide  limits  of  the  ground  covered  by  the  various 
Munitions  of  War  Acts.  It  would  include  not  only 
the  conditions  of  labor  but  the  rights  of  capital.  One 
of  the  greatest  British  employers  has  recently  laid  it 
down  that  '*no  business  is  entitled  to  make  unlimited 
profits"  and  that  "the  principle  of  the  profits  tax 
should  therefore  be  retained  after  the  war."  If  the 
restoration  of  trade-union  rights  had  to  be  deferred 
till  a  decision  of  those  larger  issues  had  been  reached 
there  would  intervene  a  period  of  intolerable  uncer- 
tainty and  irritation.  On  a  settlement  the  successful 
restarting  of  the  peace  industries  depends.  The  men 
will  have  to  forego  some  of  the  rights  they  have 
guarded  so  jealously,  and  the  employers  on  their  side 
will  have  to  be  reconciled  to  reciprocal  concessions. 
Fortunately,  the  association  of  employers  and  work- 
men in  different  industries  on  advisory  committees  and 
joint  councils  promises  to  generate  a  spirit  of  accom- 
modation on  either  side  that  should  make  smooth  the 
path  of  what  might  be  very  difficult  negotiations. 

The  essential  conditions  of  settlement  are  that  no 
class  of  men — and  if  possible  no  individual  man — 
should  be  the  worse  off  for  the  surrender  of  usages 
detrimental  to  the  efficiency  of  industrj^  as  a  whole. 
That  raises,  for  example,  the  question  of  the  retention 
of  women  in  places  once  filled  by  men.  In  one  great 
shipyard  all  the  cranes  are  now  worked  by  women,  who 
do  the  job  quite  as  efficiently  as  the  men,  while  the  men 
are  released  for  other  work  that  the  women  could  not 
handle.     This  is  a  war  change  and  the  question  is 


MORE  OUTPUT  47 

asked  what  will  happen  when  the  old  crane  drivers 
come  back  and  demand  the  reinstatement  to  which  they 
are  legally  entitled.  Apart  from  the  hardship  to  the 
women  the  reversion  to  the  old  conditions  would  be 
thoroughly  bad  industrial  economy.  The  firm  there- 
fore proposes  to  otfer  the  returning  men  other  posi- 
tions as  good  in  all  respects  as  those  they  filled  before 
the  war. 

Such  changes  will  need  to  be  carefully  watched,  for 
no  two  jobs  are  precisely  comparable  in  every  particu- 
lar; but  it  is  along  those  lines  that  the  settlement  may 
be  looked  for.  If  it  is  such  as  to  avert  the  menace  of 
unemployment,  to  guard  against  any  fall  in  real  wages 
and  to  maintain  the  worker's  freedom  the  men  may  well 
be  prepared  to  forego  some  of  those  artificial  restric- 
tions that  appeared  so  necessary  for  their  protection 
before  the  war.  They  are  sufficiently  strong  to  resist 
any  attempt  to  take  advantage  of  the  new  conditions, 
and  the  prevailing  legislative  sentiment  will  prol)ably 
assist  them  to  give  legal  force  to  such  wage  standards 
and  labor  regulations  as  may  be  agreed  on  as  nmtually 
beneficial  by  the  bulk  of  the  workmen  and  tlie  bulk  of 
the  employers. 

There  are  bodies  of  workmen  who  have  frankly  fol- 
lowed the  go-slow  policy;  they  have  done  so  and  still 
wish  to  do  so  deliberately  in  the  assumed  interests  of 
their  class  and  calling — this  in  the  mistaken  belief  that 
there  is  only  so  much  work  to  go  around,  and  that  if 
they  got  through  with  it  too  soon  they  would  have 
''the  sack"  alone  to  look  forward  to.  They  have  not 
realized — and  what  opportunity^  w^as  there  for  them 
to  do  so? — that  work  and  wages  are  elastic  proposi- 


48  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

tions;  that  wages  come  out  of  the  stream  of  produc- 
tion. Widen  the  stream  and  you  widen  the  wage  op- 
portunity. 

Why  should  workmen  have  seen  this  truth  when  re- 
spectable names  were  associated  with  the  doctrine  of 
limits  to  the  wage?  Moreover,  the  easy-going  prac- 
tices in  hiring  and  firing  and  memories  of  unfair  ad- 
vantages taken  of  their  increased  efficiency  counseled 
a  restraint  against  over-eager  effort.  The  whole  situa- 
tion has  been  too  wasteful  to  be  regarded  with  any  sat- 
isfaction. In  this  transition  time  it  is  being  considered 
frankly  and  fearlessly.  The  remedy  lies  with  the  em- 
ployer more  than  it  does  with  his  employees.  Greater 
security  of  tenure,  removal  of  the  fear  of  sudden  un- 
employment, and  safeguards  against  a  lowering  rate, 
which  is  a  penalty  on  efficiency,  will  do  more  to  do  away 
with  suffocating  restrictions  than  all  the  exhortations 
in  the  world. 

If  we  try  to  catalogue  the  wastes  that  stand  in  the 
way  of  increased  output,  which  output  everybody  con- 
cedes is  the  basis  of  prosperity  and  will  alone  make 
good  the  war  damage,  we  should  have  to  place  at  the 
head  of  the  list  the  waste  from  ill  will,  or  rather  from 
absence  of  good  will.  I  have  always  held  that  good 
will  is  as  big  a  factor  in  rapid  and  economical  produc- 
tion as  skill  itself.  Great  Britain  has  begun  to  think 
about  the  place  of  this  valuable  article,  good  will,  in 
its  production  program.  I  do  not  mean  to  suggest  that 
this  is  a  new  thought;  far  from  it;  there  are  establish- 
ments that  have  understood  it  and  lived  up  to  its  sug- 
gestions for  more  than  a  generation.  But  never  has 
there  been  so  widespread  an  effort  as  now  to  work  out 
a  basis  of  mutual  confidence  in  the  relation  of  employer 


MORE  OUTPUT  49 

and  employed.  It  may  fairly  be  said  that  all  parties 
realize  that  the  production  called  for  is  out  of  the  ques- 
tion unless  a  new  spirit  of  reciprocity  is  at  work.  To 
make  this  spirit  possible  waste  prevention  is  one  of  the 
first  obligations — prevention  of  wastes  material  and 
wastes  human. 

The  war  has  thrown  a  searchlight  on  the  way  in 
which  industry  has  been  carried  on  for  a  generation 
past.  Wartime  economies  have  taught  far-reaching 
lessons.  The  German  submarine  has  been  the  cham- 
pion promoter  of  British  agriculture.  Before  the  war 
half  the  total  food  consumed  in  the  British  Islands  was 
brought  overseas.  But  for  the  navy  these  islands 
would  have  been  starved  into  submission.  The  navy 
not  only  kept  open  the  channels  of  supply ;  it  gave  the 
country  time  to  get  busy  on  a  great  program  of  agri- 
cultural development.  Though  the  Belgian  farmer 
produces  one  hundred  dollars  an  acre  to  twenty  dollars 
of  the  British  farmer,  and  the  German  farmer  feeds 
about  seventy  persons  to  fifty  persons  fed  by  the  Brit- 
ish farmer  for  every  hundred  acres  of  land  worked, 
the  efficiency  of  the  land  worker  here  is  not  so  low  as 
these  figures  might  indicate.  The  production  per  man 
in  Germany  is  only  two-thirds  that  of  the  farmer  in 
this  country. 

These  islands  could  not  probably  under  the  best  con- 
ditions produce  enough  food  to  be  self-sustaining,  but 
with  an  extension  of  the  tillage  opportunities  wonder- 
fully abundant  here  there  never  need  be  any  fear  of 
suffering  even  in  the  face  of  a  complete  blockade.  The 
holdings  of  land  in  small  allotments  for  cultivation 
trebled  during  the  war.  In  England  and  Wales  they 
rose  from  about  half  a  million  to  one  million  and  a 


50  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

hair.  Kitchoii  gardens  still  fringe  the  outlying  sec- 
tions of  every  industrial  town;  crops  of  fresh  green 
vegetables  raised  near  by  swell  the  Covent  Garden 
market  stalls.  Fifty  thousand  women  volunteered 
their  services  in  the  Women's  Land  Army;  not  far 
from  a  quarter  of  a  million  women  were  at  work  on  the 
land  throughout  the  war. 

Lost  time,  lost  motion,  spoiled  material  and  a  gen- 
eral slowing  down  of  plant  are  subjects  of  sharp  in- 
vestigation these  days.  Never  has  scientific  manage- 
ment, regarded  as  a  distinct  American  importation,  ex- 
cited so  much  interest  as  well  as  controversy.  As  far 
as  the  spokesmen  of  labor  are  concerned  they  welcome 
every  step  forward  in  the  way  of  scientific  research, 
the  use  of  the  chemist,  metallurgist,  fuel  analyst 
and  other  technical  specialists.  They  say  that  men 
of  science  have  not  been  sufficiently  utilized  thus  far 
in  industry.  That  factory  organization  can  be  vastly 
improved  is  generally  conceded.  Positions  held  by 
poorly  trained  men  should  be  in  the  hands  of  those 
equipped  with  a  knowledge  of  the  best  modern  meth- 
ods ;  closer  figuring  of  costs  and  frank  comparisons  as 
between  plants  and  districts  should  be  more  common. 
The  planning  and  routing  of  jobs  and  a  much  better 
coordination  among  the  various  units  of  the  same  or- 
ganization are  obviously  things  that  should  prevail. 
Labor  welcomes  the  use  of  science  in  industrial  man- 
agement just  as  it  respects  the  services  of  the  expert 
in  civil  service  and  other  governmental  activities.  It 
holds  large  reserv-ations,  however,  as  to  those  matters, 
apart  from  technical  problems  of  management,  which 
it  believes  are  vitally  matters  of  general  human  con- 
cern. 


MORE  OUTPUT  51 

On  this  point  one  of  the  greatest  employers  in  the 
country,  speaking  at  a  public  debate  in  a  workmen's 
educational  center,  said:  ''Scientific  management — 
that  is,  science  in  management,  as  the  sane  leaders  of 
this  movement  look  upon  it — is  not  a  solution  of  the 
whole  industrial  jDroblem;  it  does  not  settle,  and  does 
not  pretend  to  settle,  how  much  of  the  products  of  in- 
dustry ought  to  go  to  workman,  manager,  investor; 
it  does  not  solve  the  unemployment  problem  or  lay 
down  rules  for  industrial  harmony.  These  problems 
have  been  in  existence  long  before  any  definite  system 
of  efficiency  engineering  was  laid  down  in  print.  But 
one  advantage  of  such  a  system,  honestly  and  sensibly 
worked  out,  is  to  make  much  easier  an  approach  to 
some  of  these  problems.  To  help  make  men  more  pro- 
ductive with  the  least  waste  possible  consistent  with 
good  upkeep  of  men  and  plant  is  fundamental  good 
sense  and  applies  everywhere." 

The  war  has  brought  home  the  meaning  of  produc- 
tion as  nothing  hitherto  could  have  done.  In  carrying 
on  the  war  the  accumulated  wealth  of  the  country  was, 
of  course,  largely  untouched,  though  it  was  devoted  to 
new  purposes.  Houses,  lands,  railways,  roads,  canals 
are  still  here.  Day  by  day  the  people  have  had  to  meet 
the  huge  demands  of  the  military  establishments. 
Beef,  jam,  tea,  clothing,  railway  wagons,  shells  and 
armament — to  the  tune  of  about  thirty  million  dollars 
a  day — were  requisitioned.  These  represent  fresh 
production  on  a  scale  which  deserves  the  adjective 
miraculous.  Savings,  borrowings,  selling  of  securi- 
ties, abstinence  and  enforced  economies  of  various 
kinds — these  helped  to  meet  the  current  bills.  But  a 
large  debt  has  been  left  for  the  future  to  meet — an  an- 


52  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

nual  interest  charge  of  more  than  a  billion  dollars  to 
raise,  over  and  above  the  taxes  levied.  Ultimately 
this  (lol)t  must  be  paid — and  payin^^  for  the  war  means 
replacing  the  things  that  have  been  destroyed,  so  as  to 
have  at  least  as  much  as  before;  must  be  paid  for  by 
a  larger  output  or  by  getting  on  with  less. 

**We  can  easily  write  off  our  war  debt  by  more  out- 
put"— this  is  the  opinion  of  a  man  who  is  generally 
regarded  as  one  of  the  leading  authorities  in  matters 
industrial — ''and  this  increase  does  not  have  to  be  any- 
thing extravagant,  if  all  work  altogether.  If  every- 
body should  add  ten  per  cent  to  his  productivity  the 
bill  can  be  met — everybody,  not  a  few  or  a  class  of 
workers.  The  war  has  shown  us  that  we  can  easily 
exert  ourselves  even  more  than  ten  per  cent.  There 
was  always  too  much  loafing,  from  the  heads  of  indus- 
try down  to  the  manual  workers.  We  made  far  too 
little  use  of  machinery.  There  is  far  too  much  drink- 
ing. Cut  the  drink  bill  of  1916  alone  by  fifty  per  cent 
and  you  have  four  hundred  million  dollars  saved.  We 
are  still  using  horses — or  worse  still,  human  labor — 
where  we  should  use  steam  power,  motors  and  the 
electric  current.  We  too  often  use  old-fashioned  steam 
power  for  electric  powder.  The  government,  I'm  glad 
to  say,  is  going  in  for  a  large  development  of  cheap 
electric  power  for  the  country — one  of  our  crying 
needs.  What  we  do  to-day  is  done  too  often  with 
ridiculously  little  science. 

"Of  course  we  can  increase  our  output.  Now  we 
must  do  this  or  be  poorer.  Look  at  what  makes  for 
production — the  factors  that  go  into  it  are  still  here. 
Our  land,  for  example,  has  not  been  devastated  as  it 


MORE  OUTPUT  53 

has  been  in  Belgium,  France  and  Poland.  Our  stocks 
are  here,  machinery,  tools,  buildings.  We  must  recog- 
nize that  the  labor  is  not  all  here.  Our  toll  in  death 
and  disablement  is  great.  Our  loss  in  labor  power  can 
be  made  good;  though  we  can  never  fill  the  void  and 
lessen  our  sorrow,  we  can  with  a  bit  more  time  and  ex- 
ertion on  the  part  of  the  labor  power  we  have  make  up. 
I  do  not  mean  to  suggest  that  we  should  overwork  labor 
and  add  to  its  strain.  Nothing  would  be  more  unwise. 
Much  depends  on  organization,  and  such  organization 
as  we  have  had  we  still  have.  It  has  not  all  been 
knocked  to  pieces. 

'*We  must  insist  on  the  land  being  used  to  produce 
the  maximum  amount  of  food  for  the  people  instead 
of  the  biggest  interest  or  rent.  Our  factories  show  too 
much  dirt  and  disorder  and  waste  of  confusion.  As  a 
rule  we  must  take  one  to  our  new  munition  plants  to 
show  a  model  workplace.  It  is  very  bad  for  us  to  take 
things  easily;  it  is  not  healthy.  It  is  far  better  to  be 
alert  for  a  comparatively  short  day  than  to  go  slum- 
mocking about  all  day.  I  have  seen  skilled  workmen 
do  this,  and  they  soon  break  down  in  efficiency. 

*'It  all  comes  to  be  a  question  of  putting  more  brains 
into  industry.  We  have  too  often  been  putting  our 
brains  into  trying  to  cheat  each  other;  we  must  learn 
to  apply  them  not  merely  to  make  profit  but  produce. 
The  true  way  is  to  discover  how  to  prevent  waste  and 
loss,  to  find  how  to  do  an  operation  in  half  the  time  and 
with  half  the  effort — how  to  save  half  the  capital. 
This  is  real  economy  and  an  addition  to  actual  produc- 
tion." 

No  man  in  England  has   a  stronger  hold  on  the 


54.  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

thoughts  and  confidonco  of  workiii^^rnen's  org'anizations 
than  the  man  I  have  just  (juotcd.  Hero  are  his  views 
as  to  how  to  get  tlie  most  out  of  hil)or: 

'*  By  labor  I  mean,  of  course,  the  human  beings  who 
carry  on  the  manual  work.  When  you  consider  that 
we  have  something  like  fifteen  million  of  these  men  and 
women  who  are  manual  working  wage-earners,  and 
that  everything  depends  on  tlieir  health  and  strength 
and  training  as  to  how  effective  they  will  be  in  indus- 
try, what  a  lesson  that  is  to  take  care  of  the  health  and 
education  of  the  people,  and  especially  of  the  genera- 
tion which  is  growing  up.  We  killed  more  babies 
wantonly  in  1915  through  our  public  neglect  than  all 
the  lives  lost  in  the  war  on  our  side. 

'*  Consider  what  an  advance  it  would  be  if  all  the 
boys  and  girls  out  of  the  fifteen  million  workers,  in- 
stead of  being  allowed,  as  a  large  number  now  are,  to 
grow  up  rather  clumsy,  stupid  louts  who  have  not  had 
their  intelligence  awakened,  were  turned  out  with  as 
good  minds,  say,  as  the  ordinary  workingman  student 
of  the  Workingmen's  Educational  Association  classes. 
Think  of  the  increased  productivity  in  the  real  sense 
that  such  a  trained  and  disciplined  labor  force  would 
mean. 

''We  have  so  far  muddled  along  without  organiza- 
tion, but  now  we  recognize  that  we  have  to  face  a  great 
emergency.  We  must  produce  more  or  go  short. 
This  can  be  done  by  large-scale  organization  alone. 
How  best  to  bring  this  about  will  take  a  good  deal  of 
investigation  and  discovery.  We  have  too  many 
separate  people  doing  the  same  thing.  To  avoid  the 
peril  of  monopoly  we  have  no  end  of  wasteful  compe- 
tition.    Coal  is  our  key  industry.     This  industry-  has 


MORE  OUTPUT  55 

fallen  into  the  hands  of  about  fifteen  hundred  coal  owai- 
ers,  working*  over  three  thousand  separate  mines,  with- 
out any  regard  to  what  each  other  is  doing.  This  is 
true  of  our  transport,  agriculture  and  machine  trades. 
Our  main  hope  is  in  thorough  reorganization  on  a  na- 
tional scale." 

Closely  related  to  the  whole  question  of  industrial 
expansion  for  the  peace  situation  is  the  question  of 
wages.  What  has  done  more  than  anything  else  to 
cause  a  feeling  of  panic  among  workingmen  for  a  year 
past  has  been  the  dread  that  once  the  end  of  the  war 
was  announced  a  sudden  drop  in  wages  would  take 
place  along  the  whole  gamut  of  industry.  This  dread 
has  seized  on  every  class  of  wage-earner. 

Eight  through  the  ^J'ar  the  big  department  stores 
were  doing  an  abnormally  large  business,  in  many 
cases  outrunning  their  sales  for  the  previous  year  by 
fifty  and  sixty  per  cent.  On  the  day  that  the  armistice 
was  signed  the  stores  looked  like  a  deserted  village. 
For  a  few  days  the  slump  in  business  was  accounted 
for  by  the  celebrations  and  let-up  after  four  hard  years 
of  strain.  Then  the  influenza  epidemic  was  dragged 
in  as  an  explanation.  But  the  slump  kept  up.  Mer- 
chants called  in  their  department  chiefs  to  find  out 
what  had  made  the  bottom  fall  out  of  business.  Slowly 
the  true  explanation  came  to  light.  Retrenchment  was 
the  order  of  the  day.  With  the  shutting  down  of  war 
orders  a  large  proportion  of  trade  automatically  shut 
down.  Thousands  who  were  getting  bonuses  of  vari- 
ous sorts  and  wages  based  on  a  labor-scarcitj"  value 
were  w^aiting  for  the  scaling  down  of  income  that  they 
believed  must  come. 

No  such  drop  has  so  far  taken  place.    But  the  gen- 


66  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

eral  feeling  was  one  of  discounting  what  seemed  the 
inevitable,  and  money  was  being  spent  on  bare  necessi- 
ties only.  An  improved  tone  may  be  noted  now.  The 
business  of  the  shops  is  picking  up.  Wages  are  not 
tumbling;  nor  prices.  Everything  is  being  done  to 
steady  the  situation,  but  there  is  still  a  feeling  of  uncer- 
tainty. 

The  question  of  post-war  wages  is  coming  up  for  set- 
tlement. Much  good  has  been  done  by  statements  of 
various  large  employers  that  no  change  in  the  wage 
scale  would  take  place  if  only  production  could  be 
maintained  on  the  most  efficient  basis  possible.  Dur- 
ing the  greater  part  of  the  war  period  workers  in  most 
of  the  big  industries,  especially  in  those  doing  war 
work,  were  directly  subject  to  ^ompulsor}'  arbitration. 
They  were  compelled  to  submit  all  differences  for  set- 
tlement by  the  government,  without  recourse  to  strike. 
Under  the  Munitions  of  War  Act  there  was  provided 
the  additional  power  of  acting  in  all  industrial  disputes 
by  what  was  called  Royal  Proclamation,  and  this  power 
was  used  in  disputes,  such  as  those  which  rose  in  the 
coal  industry  and  among  the  dock  laborers.  A  Com- 
mittee on  Production  was  established  to  deal  with  con- 
ditions in  the  engineering  trades,  so  called — that  is, 
the  metal  trades.  It  became  a  wage  tribunal  on  a  large 
scale.  It  struggled  throughout  its  career  with  about 
two  hundred  different  wage  standards  or,  rather,  wage 
districts.  The  workers'  organizations  have  been  try- 
ing to  reduce  this  chaos  of  two  hundred  to  about  a 
dozen  clearly  defined  scales.  There  are  about  three 
hundred  thousand  members  on  the  rolls  of  one  of  these 
organizations,  and  on  their  output  much  of  Britain's 
industrial  restoration  depends.     There  is  good  reason. 


MORE  OUTPUT  57 

then,  for  the  present  activity  in  clearing  up  the  tangled 
wage  situation.  Coal  miners  and  railway  men  have 
been  virtually  state  employees  throughout  the  war,  and 
the  pre-war  system  of  collective  bargaining  was  the 
method  used  in  all  new  wage  adjustments. 

Trade  boards,  at  work  for  years  before  the  war, 
acting  very  much  like  the  Minimum  Wage  Boards  in 
our  states,  continued  without  any  change.  All  these 
boards  have  raised  the  minimum  rates,  which  by  cer- 
tain new  legal  provisions  come  into  effect  earlier  than 
has  hitherto  been  the  case.  Wartime  experience  in 
wage  adjustments  will  probably  affect  the  methods 
used  from  now  on.  As  the  country  needs  nothing  so 
much  as  a  stable  period  of  recuperation  it  is  certain 
that  the  whole  question  of  wage  adjustment  will  be 
treated  not  piecemeal,  as  hitherto,  and  by  localities, 
but — for  big  industries  at  least — ^by  a  policy  of  cen- 
tralized wage  negotiation  and  award.  For  example, 
workers  in  the  metal  trades,  foundries,  shipbuilding, 
chemical,  docking  and  transportation  industries  have 
secured  advances  on  a  national  scale,  and  national  ne- 
gotiations have  begun  to  take  the  place  of  the  old-time 
method  of  local  wage  arrangements. 

No  one  can  go  very  far  into  the  production  situation 
here  without  a  fresh  look  at  the  wastage  from  the  bung- 
hole — the  alcoholic  bunghole.  There  may  be  such  a 
thing  as  making  too  much  of  the  drink  situation  here, 
because  most  men  are  sober,  clean  living  and  law  abid- 
ing. Workingmen  are  not  heavy  drinkers,  taken  as 
a  whole,  and  it  is  a  fact  worth  noting  that  many  of 
the  well-known  labor  representatives  here  are  total 
abstainers.  But  this  is  undeniably  true:  If  an}^  one 
thing  threatens  the  large-scale  output  for  which  the 


58  managemp:nt  and  men 

whole  country  is  organizing  itself  it  is  a  drink  situa- 
tion such  as  was  familiar  before  the  war.  This  coun- 
try has  been  no  worse  in  this  respect  than  many  an- 
other. If  any  people  anywhere  in  tlie  world  follow 
the  ways  of  order  these  of  the  British  Isles  most  cer- 
tainly do.  But  there  is  and  there  has  been  enough  of 
a  liquor  problem  here  to  make  any  slurring  over  of  its 
mischief  a  source  of  great  danger. 

At  the  risk  of  going  over  familiar  ground  I  must  say 
something  about  the  war  experience  with  the  liquor 
trade.  During  the  war  the  drink  question  ceased  to  be 
a  purely  reform  issue.  It  was  dealt  with  entirely  as  a 
production  question,  and  the  temperance  reformer  as 
such  was  elbowed  away  by  the  business  man,  industrial 
magnate,  efficiency  expert  and  doctor,  who  were  con- 
cerned wholly  with  the  winning  of  the  w^ar.  The  drink 
traffic  was  assailed  because  it  lessened  working  power 
and  fighting  power.  From  the  point  of  view  of  both 
efficiency  and  economy  the  case  against  drink  was 
argued  with  vigor,  and -there  was  every  indication  that 
at  one  time  the  government  was  about  to  prohibit  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  drink  out  of  hand. 

With  emphasis  and  point  Lloyd  George,  in  a  speech 
delivered  in  February,  1915,  put  the  anti-drink  ef- 
ficiency case  in  words  thaft  struck  right  home.  He  de- 
clared that  drink  was  causing  delay  in  the  production 
of  necessary  materials. 

"Most  of  our  w^orkmen,"  he  said,  "are  putting  every 
ounce  of  strength  into  this  urgent  work  for  their  coun- 
try, loyally  and  patriotically.  But  that  is  not  true  of 
all.  There  are  some,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  who  shirk  their 
duty  in  this  emergency.  I  hear  of  workmen  in  arma- 
ment works  who  refuse  to  work  a  full  week's  work  for 


MORE  OUTPUT  59 

the  nation's  need.  What  is  the  reason?  They  are  a 
minority.  But  you  must  remember  a  small  minority 
of  workmen  can  throw  a  whole  works  out  of  gear. 
What  is  the  reason? 

"Sometimes  it  is  one  thing,  sometimes  another,  but 
let  us  be  perfectly  candid :  It  is  mostly  the  lure  of  the 
drink.  They  refuse  to  work  full  time,  and  when  they 
return,  their  strength  and  efficiency  are  impaired  by 
the  way  in  which  they  have  spent  their  leisure.  Drink 
is  doing  us  more  damage  in  the  war  than  all  the  Ger- 
man submarines  put  together." 

He  repeated  his  charge  at  a  conference  of  the  trade 
unions  in  the  following  month,  and  stated  he  was  speak- 
ing on  the  authority  of  reports  from  the  Admiralty  and 
War  Office.  His  indictment  was  confirmed  even  by  the 
Transport  Workers  Federation,  which  stated  that  the 
diminished  efficiency  of  the  intemperate  minority — "so 
interdependent  is  modern  labor" — showed  a  marked 
influence  upon  the  output  of  the  total  number  of  men 
engaged  in  any  set  of  operations  but,  though  admitting 
the  charge,  it  went  on  to  suggest  one  positive  remedy 
— that  while  work  was  being  done  during  the  night  in 
shipyards,  docks  and  other  places  of  production  some 
provision  should  be  made  for  necessary  refreshment. 

How  the  authorities  dealt  with  the  problem  is  an  in- 
teresting chapter  in  war  history.  The  problem  pre- 
sented some  new  features.  There  had  been  a  great 
shift  in  the  distribution  of  labor.  Men  left  their  homes 
and  to  some  extent  abandoned  settled  habits,  gathering 
in  bulk  round  the  new  munition  factories,  some  of 
which  were  located  in  isolated  places,  some  in  and 
near  the  big  towns.  And  these  new  aggregations  of 
workingmen,  cut  off  largely  from  the  normal  influences 


60  MANAGExMENT  AND  MEN 

of  home  life,  earning  good  wages  for  the  most  part, 
but  having  scant  leisure,  and  without  much  inclination 
after  a  hard  day's  work  for  active  recreation,  were 
naturally  an  easy  prey  for  the  public  house.  Excesses 
in  drinking  are  a  common  reaction  from  overwork. 
Figures  show  a  close  relation  between  good  earnings 
and  drunkenness.  A  committee  appointed  to  inves- 
tigate health  matters  among  munition  workers  re- 
ported in  dealing  with  hours  of  labor  that  fatigue 
''meant  temptation  to  men  to  use  alcohol;  they  are  too 
tired  to  eat,  and  seek  a  stimulant." 

The  committee  insisted  on  facilities  for  workers  to 
obtain  a  hot  meal,  especially  at  night ;  and  a  clear  case 
was  made  out  quite  early  in  the  investigation  for  the 
setting  up  of  industrial  canteens  in  docks,  works  and 
yards.  Living  as  great  masses  of  men  were  in  hut- 
ments, crowded  tenements  and  even  tents  near  the 
works,  the  ordinary  strain  was  intensified  by  loss  of 
rest  and  absence  of  home  care ;  and  this  led,  of  course, 
to  still  more  drinking. 

Such  was  the  situation.  In  dealing  with  it  the  au- 
thorities undertook  a  policy  of  restriction;  they  cur- 
tailed the  hours  of  sale,  prohibited  the  sale  of  liquors 
above  a  specified  strength,  and  sought  to  remove  in- 
centives to  excess  by  establishing  canteens  for  the  sale 
of  nonalcoholic  refreshment,  and  by  prohibiting  treat- 
ing and  chalking  up.  Convivial  drinking  was  shown  to 
be  the  cause  of  nearly  half  the  convictions  in  the  po- 
lice courts ;  and  the  practice  of  chalking  up  a  score  for 
the  habitues  of  a  *'pub"  and  getting  a  settlement  on 
pay  day  is  one  that  makes  a  glass  in  hand  worth  two 
in  the  pay  envelope.     The  control  policy  was  embodied 


MORE  OUTPUT  61 

in  the  Defense  of  the  Realm  Act,  and  gave  large  pow- 
ers to  a  board  to  control  the  drink  trade. 

These  powers  were  exercised  in  many  ways ;  licensed 
houses  and  clubs  were  closed  or  their  hours  of  business 
reduced,  the  sale  and  supply  of  particular  kinds  of 
liquor  restricted  and  the  importations  of  liquor  into 
specified  districts  prohibited.  The  zones  of  restriction 
were  gradually  widened,  because  different  hours  of 
sale,  for  instance,  in  small  contiguous  districts  had  the 
effect  of  providing  drinking  men  with  facilities  not 
foreseen  by  the  liquor  board.  There  were  demands  for 
the  application  of  a  common  order  to  large  districts. 

At  the  close  of  1915  half  the  population  of  Britain 
was  under  the  board's  orders,  and  at  the  end  of  1917 
roughly  thirty-eight  millions  of  Britain's  total  popu- 
lation of  forty-one  millions  were  enjoying  the  benefits 
of  the  control  policy. 

Hours  of  sale  were  reduced  enormously.  Before  the 
war  public  houses  were  normally  open  for  nearly 
twenty  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four;  the  board  re- 
duced them  to  something  like  an  average  of  five  hours 
and  a  half — two  hours  and  a  half  at  midday  and  three 
hours  in  the  evening,  generally  from  six  o'clock  to 
nine.  At  the  same  time  the  alcoholic  strength  of  liquor 
was  reduced,  especially  in  the  case  of  spirits,  and  the 
sale  of  spirits  over  the  week-ends  was  later  prohibited. 
Unsuccessful  attempts  were  made  to  ration  drinks  by 
fixing  a  maximum  quantity,  and  there  was  also  some 
effort  to  check  drinking  among  the  women.  Carrying 
out  a  constructive  policy  the  board  established  nearly 
a  thousand  industrial  canteens — most  of  them  in  con- 
nection with  the  national  munition  factories  and  ''con- 


62  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

trolled  establishments,"  a  number  in  the  shipyards 
and  docks.  In  some  four  districts  the  board  actually 
became  public-house  managers,  acquiring  by  direct 
purchase  breweries,  licensed  houses  and  "off"  li- 
censes; two  of  the  four  breweries  thus  acquired  were 
closed,  and  about  a  third  of  the  two  hundred  and  odd 
licensed  houses. 

The  whole  question  is  now  up  for  final  settlement. 
What  the  ultimate  solution  will  be  no  one  can  say, 
but  this  may  be  ventured  as  a  safe  prediction :  There 
is  too  much  at  stake  just  now,  in  a  convalescing  world, 
if  it  be  convalescing,  for  any  needless  complication, 
difficulty  and  obstacle  to  be  tolerated,  and  from  every 
point  of  view  an  unrestricted,  profit-seeking  liquor 
traffic  along  the  lines  of  the  good  old  days  before  the 
war  is  simply  unthinkable. 

There  is  not  a  more  respected  employer  in  all  Eng- 
land than  Mr.  W.  L.  Hichens,  whose  various  interests 
embrace  a  pay  roll  of  thirty-five  thousand  employees. 
I  asked  him  for  his  views  as  to  the  output  question  and 
how  labor  and  management  were  going  to  meet  it. 

*'As  a  large  employer  of  labor  I  am  more  interested 
in  questions  affecting  labor  and  capital  than  in  any- 
thing else,  save  the  winning  of  the  war.  The  war  has 
given  us  a  new  angle  of  vision  in  regard  to  many 
things.  Before  the  war  we  lived  in  an  age  of  indi- 
vidualism. Employers  organized  themselves  into  fed- 
erations, work  people  organized  themselves  into  trade 
unions,  and  both  of  these  organizations  existed  for  the 
purpose  of  seeking  their  o^\^l  interests.  Other  classes 
of  society  followed  suit,  with  the  result  that  individual 
or  class  interests  ranked  first  and  the  interests  of  the 
country  as  a  whole  took  second  place.     Then  came  the 


MORE  OUTPUT  63 

■vvar,  and  straightway  some  three  million  men  in  this 
country  were  found  to  offer  the  supreme  sacrifice  of 
their  lives,  not  for  themselves  or  for  a  group  but  for 
their  country.  The  clouds  seemed  to  lift ;  our  horizon 
extended;  we  realized  that  patriotism  ranked  above 
individualism  and  that  the  supreme  good  of  the  coun- 
try could  only  be  secured  by  self-sacrifice.  Many  of  us 
even  began  to  dream  dreams  and  to  picture  to  our- 
selves the  wider  form  of  patriotism  after  the  war. 
And  we  woke  up  surprised  to  find  how  far  away  we 
had  drifted  from  the  old  individualism  of  pre-war 
days." 

''This  widened  outlook,  I  think,  applies  to  the  subject 
of  production.  Before  the  war  how  many  men  made  it 
their  ideal  to  try  to  put  together  a  competence  at  the 
earliest  possible  moment  in  order  that  they  might  re- 
tire and  live  happily  ever  afterward?  How  many 
young  men  and  women  were  there  who  thought  it  no 
shame  to  live  a  life  of  idleness  if  they  could  afford  to 
do  so?  But  the  war  again  has  changed  all  that.  We 
realize  now  that  there  is  an  unlimited  demand  for 
everything  that  we  can  produce;  it  seems  to  me  that 
if  it  is  an  essential  thing  for  us  to  work  as  hard  as 
we  can  in  order  to  preserve  our  liberties  it  will  also 
be  a  valuable  thing  if  after  the  war  we  can  realize  that 
it  is  worth  while  then  to  work  as  hard  as  we  can  for 
the  sake  of  the  whole  community. 

"As  I  say,  to-day  there  is  an  unlimited  demand  for 
everything  we  can  produce.  Now  everybody  knows 
that  if  we  import  from  abroad  we  have  got  to  pay  in 
one  of  four  ways :  By  means  of  selling  our  securities ; 
or  by  exporting  gold — but  the  supply  of  gold  is  small 
compared  to  our  requirements ;  a  third  way  is  that  we 


64  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

can  raise  loans  in  the  countries  with  which  we  wish  to 
trade — that  again  is  not  an  unlimited  source  of  sup- 
ply; the  fourth  and  by  far  the  most  important  way  is 
that  we  can  exchange  the  goods  which  we  want  to 
buy  in  other  countries  for  goods  exported  from  this 
country.  And  that,  everybody  will  realize,  is  by  far 
the  most  satisfactory  way  of  achieving  our  object. 

**Now  there  are  ways  in  which  more  can  be  done. 
The  first  is  by  means  of  increased  government  organ- 
ization. I  do  not  personally  think  that  a  very  great 
deal  can  be  done  in  that  way;  for  one  thing  because 
the  sturdy  independence  of  Englishmen,  which  is  a 
very  valuable  quality  and  far  superior  to  the  unreason- 
ing docility  of  the  Germans,  does  not  lend  itself  too 
much  to  government  organization.  Individual  liberty 
has  its  price,  but  it  is  worth  paying  for.  However, 
there  are  certain  things  government  can  do. 

"But  though  in  this  way  a  good  deal  can  be  done, 
yet  I  believe  that  we  have  got  for  the  most  part  to  de- 
pend upon  our  own  individual  enterprise  and  effort. 
I  feel  convinced  that  the  production  of  this  country  can 
be  largely  increased  because  I  believe  that  it  is  still  in 
us  to  make  a  much  bigger  effort  than  we  have  hitherto. 
Before  the  war  the  output  per  workingman  in  the 
United  States  was  two  and  a  half  times  as  great  as 
the  output  per  workingman  in  this  country.  Of  course 
statistics  are  always  open  to  suspicion,  and  that  figure 
is  subject  to  considerable  qualifications  in  particular, 
because  in  the  United  States  you  have  far  more  labor- 
saving  devices  than  we  have  in  this  country.  The 
fault  of  that,  I  am  free  to  confess,  lies  ver^^  largely  with 
the  employers  at  home,  who  have  not  taken  the  trouble, 
in  a  great  many  cases,  to  find  out  what  the  latest  and 


MORE  OUTPUT  65 

most  eflficient  labor-saving  devices  were,  because  they 
felt  that  they  could  rely  on  a  comparatively  cheap  labor 
supply. 

*'It  may  be  surprising  to  say  that  even  now  some 
restriction  of  output  should  exist,  but  the  reason  is 
not  really  far  to  seek.  The  fact  of  the  matter  is  that 
we  have  been  unable  in  this  respect  to  shake  clear  al- 
together of  our  pre-war  ideas,  and  we  have  been  un- 
able to  adopt  the  new  angle  of  vision  which  we  have 
adopted  in  other  cases.  Restriction  of  output,  as 
everybody  knows,  is  a  weapon  in  the  fight  between 
labor  and  capital.  There  is  no  real  object  in  restrict- 
ing output  in  the  hope  that  the  employer  will  be  deluded 
into  the  belief  that  it  is  impossible  to  produce  an  in- 
creased amount  of  work.  Moreover,  I  think  one  can 
easily  show  that  restriction  of  output  is  a  bad  plan  any- 
how, because  it  is  only  by  increasing  output  that  one 
can  increase  wages.  After  all,  one  can  only  pay  wages 
out  of  production,  and  if  production  is  reduced  the 
obvious  thing  is  that  wages  will  in  the  long  run  have 
to  be  reduced  too.  Labor  argues  that  it  ought  to  have 
a  larger  part  of  the  profit  that  now  goes  to  capital. 
But  the  difficulty  is  that  after  allowing  a  reasonable 
margin  of  profit  for  capital  the  balance  at  the  best  of 
times  would  not  go  very  far  in  improving  the  position 
of  labor.  It  would  not  enable  very  much  bigger  wages 
to  be  paid  than  are  paid  to-day.  The  only  way  really 
to  pay  considerably  higher  wages  is  to  increase  sub- 
stantially the  production  of  the  country. 

*'I  think  that  if  these  points  are  clearly  and  dispas- 
sionately argued  it  will  be  difficult  for  labor  to  deny 
their  justice  and  truth ;  but  at  the  same  time  they  will, 
I  believe,  carry  very  little  conviction  to  the  mind  of 


66  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

the  working-mail,  because  lie  will  feel — and,  iu  my 
opinion,  quite  rightly — that  the  statement  is  far  too 
one-sided  to  be  at  all  convincing  to  him.  He  will  say: 
'Our  difficulty  is  that,  supjjosing  we  are  to  increase 
production  very  considerably,  what  guaranty  have  we 
got  that  that  increase  will  go  to  us  and  not  all  be  ap- 
propriated by  capital?'  The  real  grievance  that  labor 
feels  is  that  capital  has  in  the  past  taken  more  than 
its  fair  share  of  the  good  things  of  this  world,  and  I 
think  if  one  looks  at  the  matter  broadly  one  must  ad- 
mit that  there  is  a  good  deal  of  truth  in  this  contention. 
One  has  to  remember  that  this  country  is  a  democracy 
and  that  in  a  democracy  it  is  necessary  for  all  the  mem- 
bers to  get  together  for  the  problems  that  they  have 
to  decide.  This  is  one  of  the  biggest  problems  that 
calls  for  decision,  and  it  is  imperative  that  we  should 
have  mature  thought  jointly  in  order  that  we  may 
come  to  a  right  conclusion." 

There  are  hopeful  signs  a-plenty  that  British  in- 
dustry is  getting  ready  for  a  large  expansion,  and 
that  this  expansion  will  not  be  of  mechanical  kind 
alone.  The  big  production  w^hich  every  manufacturer 
is  looking  forward  to  will  have  in  view  the  big  fact  that 
conhdeuce  between  management  and  men  is  the  only 
lasting  foundation  on  which  to  get  results.  More  out- 
put and  more  .mutual  confidence  will  go  hand  in  hand. 
There  is  no  question  in  any  quarter  that  increased  ef- 
ficiency must  come  soon.  It  is  under  Avay  right  now. 
Both  the  volume  and  the  quality  of  output  are  con- 
siderations in  every  program  of  the  merchant  and 
manufacturer. 

To  get  this  result  industrial  leaders  -are  looking  in 
the  direction  of  improving  the  organization  and  its 


MORE  OUTPUT  67 

personnel,  of  eliminating  waste  and  friction,  and  most 
important  of  all,  of  giving  enough  attention  to  the 
problem  of  increasing  the  opportunities  of  coopera- 
tion between  management  and  men.  The  best  em- 
ployers here  appreciate  the  fact  that  raising  the  level 
of  productive  capacity  is  finally  a  question  of  improv- 
ing the  conditions  under  which  the  work  is  done  and 
the  spirit  in  which  the  parties  concerned  carry  on  un- 
der the  same  roof.  There  has  been  far  too  great  a 
sacrifice  during  an  eternity  of  the  war  period,  and 
both  this  country  and  the  world  in  general  are  too 
sorely  in  need  of  recuperation  for  much  patience  with 
the  slacker — the  moral  slacker  as  well  as  the  indus- 
trial slacker.  And  a  moral  slacker  is  a  man  who  will 
not  play  the  game  according  to  the  new  rules  and  the 
new  ideals  of  industrial  team  play. 

"While  on  a  recent  four-hundred-mile  tour  of  the  dev- 
astated country  of  ISTorthem  France  and  Belgium  we 
were  leaving  Cambrai,  a  terrible  skeleton  of  its  former 
glory.  Rain  and  mist  softened  the  raw  edges  of  its 
desolation.  Houses  telescoped,  the  roof  of  a  big 
church  covering  a  row  of  shattered  buildings  half  a 
block  away,  trees  lying  across  the  brick  piles  which 
once  were  dwelling  places — in  this  City  of  the  Dead 
there  stands  one  entire  front  of  a  building,  the  rest  of 
it  mingling  its  dust  with  the  dust  and  rubbish  of  the 
town.  On  it  are  the  letters :  Chambre  de  Commerce. 
Round  this  ruin  German  prisoners  were  clearing  a 
roadway,  Chinese  labor  battalions  were  propping  up 
the  leaning  party  walls,  and  every^^here  was  the 
Tommy  busily  trying  to  do  such  tidying  up  as  was 
possible. 

A  whole  cityful  of  men,  women  and  children,  scat- 


68  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

tered  to  the  four  winds,  are  anxiously  awaiting  word 
to  return  to  the  place  they  had  once  called  home.  And 
this  Chamber  of  Commerce,  once  the  heart  of  the 
town's  business  life,  with  the  only  intact  front  wall 
in  its  neighborhood,  waits  for  goods  to  flow  through 
again  and  bring  occupation,  self-support  and  self-re- 
spect to  a  stricken  population. 

Cambrai  is  only  a  symbol  and  a  type  of  want,  im- 
poverishment and  insufficiency.  The  spirit  of  the 
Tommy,  cheerfully  and  silently  at  work  in  the  thank- 
less task  of  bringing  order,  safety  and  opportunity, 
meager  enough,  in  these  abominations  of  desolation,  is 
the  spirit  in  which  the  productive  energies  of  the 
world  must  be  put  forth  for  years  to  come.  The  need 
is  great.  Cambrai  differs  from  the  unwrecked  places 
of  civilization  only  in  the  circumstance  that  what  right- 
minded  men  have  ahead  of  them  in  the  way  of  effort 
and  service  is  so  painfully  visible  there. 


CHAPTER  III 

SIDELIGHTS    ON    INDUSTRY    IN    GREAT    BRITAIN 

iHE  business  of  handling  a  large  force  of  men 
is  no  longer  a  mystery.  It  is  something  which 
can  be  put  mto  words  plain  enough  for  the  average 
man  to  understand.  Keeping  an  organization  going 
through  power  over  other  men  takes  far  less  brains 
than  does  the  winning  of  their  cooperation  by  appeal 
to  their  intelligence  and  their  interest."  A  leader  in 
British  industry  voices  in  these  words  an  important 
change  in  the  viewpoint  of  industrial  executives.  "I 
expect  all  my  fellow  employees,  whatever  may  be 
their  work,  to  help.  I  know  that  they  can  help  improve 
our  organization  and  our  product.  And  they  know 
that  I  appreciate  such  help.  I  want  to  see  them  grow 
in  management  skill  and  point  of  view.  One  way  to 
do  this  is  to  open  up  opportunities  for  all  to  know  the 
problems  we  have  to  meet  day  by  day,  and  to  take 
counsel  with  them.  Our  men  see  things  which  we  can- 
not see.  No  man  can  be  a  judge  in  his  o\vn  cause.  If 
we  tolerate  this  we  have  the  formula  that  might  is 
right,  something  that  we  have  just  defeated.  We 
want  an  Anglo-Saxon,  not  a  Prussian,  ideal  of  industry 
and  its  management.  That  ideal  is  of  service  on  the 
part  of  every  man  engaged  in  it — or  we  all  move  in 
a  kind  of  living  death.  If  there  is  no  ideal  of  service 
we  have  to  find  out  how  far  we  are  the  cause  of  this 
failure.    Men  ordinarily  give  about  the  response  we 

69 


70  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

look  for  in  them.  There  is  no  reason  for  any  failure 
to  make  employment  a  service  if  we  try  hard  enough. 
But  we  must  believe  first  that  it  is.  A  few  years  ago 
I  was  interested  in  a  company  started  to  trade  on  the 
Gold  Coast.  We  decided  to  limit  our  profits  to  a  rea- 
sonable figure,  and  to  turn  over  the  surplus  for  the 
benefit  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  with  which 
we  were  trading.  There  was  no  cant,  no  humbug  or 
charity  about  it.  We  did  not  sell  silk  hats  to  the 
naked  natives.  We  sought  a  fair  trade,  gave  good 
value,  and  used  the  fund  to  supply  real  wants,  such  as 
medical  care,  for  which  there  was  no  extra  charge. 
It  was  our  idea  that  the  country  had  already  paid  us 
for  this  service  through  our  trade." 

Production  of  the  goods  for  which  a  shaken  world 
is  waiting  does  not  altogether  depend  on  how  much  the 
man  at  the  bench  will  extend  himself,  though  more  solid 
effort  all  round  is  needed;  nor  on  how^  far  workmen 
will  collectively  throw  over  practices  which  hold  pro- 
duction back.  They  will  do  this,  given  certain  assur- 
ances. Nor  does  it  rest  on  the  changes  in  plant  and 
tools  which  the  employer  is  introducing,  though  all 
those  things  will  help  and  go  a  long  way.  It  hangs 
on  things  that  go  deeper  into  essential  human  nature, 
and  the  wise  man  is  he  who  takes  careful  account  of 
those  things.  Management  of  men  is  just  manage- 
ment of  human  nature,  and  this  human  nature  after  a 
long  siege  of  war  strain  and  of  danger,  alarms,  and 
situations  which  have  stirred  the  brain  cells  of  the 
multitude  is  not  quite  the  human  nature  that  it  was 
before  the  war.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  every- 
where you  sense  a  wish  to  settle  down,  a  longing  for 
quiet  and  for  the  ordinary  routine  of  everyday  life. 


SIDELIGHTS  ON  INDUSTRY  71 

That  settling  down  will  not  take  place  until  certain 
difficulties  are  adjusted  and  a  certain  uneasiness  ap- 
peased. Unless  these  things  are  done  disaffection  will 
be  there  to  harass  and  disturb. 

Some  share  for  this  unsettled  state  of  mind  which 
one  glimpses  in  going  up  and  down  industrial  centers 
can  be  traced  to  sharp  resentment  against  the  kind  of 
supervision  under  which  the  men  have  been  working. 
Not  that  this  supervision  has  been  always  harsh  or 
incapable — 'Such  an  assertion  would  be  unfair  and  ex- 
aggerated. In  many  instances  there  has  been  wisdom, 
understanding.  But  while  employers  have  theorized 
and  experimented  the  workers  have  been  thinking  hard 
on  the  whole  management  proposition,  and  they  cher- 
ish certain  strong  convictions  as  to  how  they  should 
be  dealt  with.  These  convictions  are  not  always 
clearly  stated;  but  the  purpose  is  clear  enough,  even 
though  the  phrasing  favored  by  the  more  aggressive 
would,  if  carried  to  its  conclusion,  undo  all  organiza- 
tion and  tumble  industry  into  a  heap. 

But,  I  repeat,  the  men  have  been  busily  brooding 
over  notions  of  something  better  in  shop  relationship 
than  they  have  had  before,  and  as  thoughts  are  facts 
it  is  worth  while  trying  to  understand  what  is  behind 
their  feeling  about  the  conduct  of  the  workshop  and 
their  part  in  it. 

Having  worked  at  full  tilt  throughout  the  war,  and 
believing  that  they  were  sharing,  as  never  before,  with 
foremen,  managers  and  employers  in  a  common  busi- 
ness directed  to  a  common  end — namely,  that  of  win- 
ning the  war — the  workmen,  take  them  as  a  whole,  have 
developed  in  this  war  experience  a  new  interest  in  the 
industrial  organization  of  which  they  have  been  a  part, 


72  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

and  a  new  sense  of  their  relation  to  it.  They  are  giv- 
ing up,  if  they  have  not  already  abandoned,  the  idea 
that  they  are  mere  sojourners  in  their  place  of  employ- 
ment. All  through  the  war  they  were  told  again  and 
again — and  they  were  disposed  to  believe  it — that  in 
their  hands  lay  victory  or  disaster;  that  they  were 
needed  just  where  thoy  were ;  that  they  were  the  heart 
and  the  solar  plexus  of  the  organization;  and  that 
nothing  could  excuse  any  slacking  or  shifting  about — 
in  short,  that  they  belonged  very  much  right  where 
they  found  themselves. 

Every  effort  was  made  to  steady  the  working  force. 
For  a  time  men  were  not  allowed  to  flit  from  job  to  job. 
Pressure  of  all  sorts  was  used  to  hold  them  to  their 
work.  And  when  the  pressure — that  of  the  war  regu- 
lations especially — was  relaxed,  public  opinion  and 
shop  opinion  against  the  floater  and  the  job  hobo  came 
in  to  help.  So  the  number  of  job  changes  was  kept 
down.  Every  man  was  expected  to  do  his  duty,  and  if 
he  was  a  workman  exempt  from  military  service  there 
was  an  additional  reason  to  stand  by.  And  the  men 
stood  by;  and  the  longer  they  stayed  the  more  they 
made  comparisons,  both  mental  and  vocal,  of  the  per- 
sonnel that  gave  them  orders  and  instructions  and  had 
the  say  over  their  comings  and  goings. 

Every  plant  on  war  work  and  very  many  others  have 
been  under  a  most  lively  public  scrutiny.  Everybody 
seemed  to  know  all  about  their  inner  workings.  What- 
ever may  have  been  the  privacy  they  once  enjoyed,  the 
strictly  internal  affairs — the  domestic  gossip,  as  it 
were — of  every  great  establishment  became  common 
property.  Eating  places,  the  canteens,  the  pubs,  the 
smoking  coaches — all  became  daily  centers  of  exchange 


SIDELIGHTS  ON  INDUSTRY  73 

and  quotation  in  rating  of  managerial  idols — or  the 
contrary,  as  the  case  may  have  been,  and  often  was. 
And  out  of  these  informal  and  universal  juries  certain 
notions  as  regards  management  and  the  man  power 
under  its  ordering  came  into  view,  as  I  have  already 
intimated,  and  though  of  low  visibility  at  first  it  yet 
was  of  sufficient  significance  to  furnish  the  abler  among 
employers  with  food  for  thought. 

This  is  the  lesson  that  struck  home  the  hardest: 
That  the  chain  of  management  is  never  any  stronger 
than  its  weakest  foreman  link.  By  foreman  I  mean 
any  of  the  variety  of  in-between  officials  of  the  plant — 
overseer,  boss,  leading  man  or  whatever  the  local  desig- 
nation may  be — for  the  man  who  comes  directly  in  con- 
tact with  the  men,  stands  in  their  eyes  for  manage- 
ment as  a  whole,  and  rules  their  shop  life  and  duties. 
This  foreman,  unfortunately  for  industry,  appears  in 
the  drama  as  more  or  less  of  a  pocketed,  sidetracked 
individual,  though  his  part  is  that  of  intermediary  be- 
tween the  man  at  the  top  and  the  rank  and  file.  He 
was  neither  expected  nor  encouraged  to  broaden  his 
own  industrial  outlook.  He  had  been  put  into  a  niche 
and  was  left  there  so  long  as  he  didn't  give  any  trouble 
and  delivered  the  output  according  to  schedule.  Con- 
ferences there  were  aplenty,  but  he  was  not  among 
those  present;  executives  met  to  shape  up  far-reach- 
ing policies,  but  he  never  sat  in.  As  of  the  poor,  short 
and  simple  annals  only  were  expected  of  him. 

The  only  trouble  with  this  proposition  is  that  the  sit- 
uation does  not  lend  itself  to  any  such  simplicity. 
There  is  not  a  man  on  the  whole  industrial  general  staff 
who  influences  as  much  the  temper,  tone  and  smooth 
working  of  an  industry  as  does  this  same  unconsidered 


74  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

foreman  person.  He  deals  with  human  nature  every 
minute,  and  that  same  human  nature  deals  with  him 
about  as  frequently,  and  the  action  and  reaction  of 
these  forces,  to  use  laboratory  lingo,  is  a  subject  suit- 
able for  minds  well  above  the  freshman  grade.  To 
sidetrack  this  foreman  then — that  is,  to  fail  to  help  him 
grow  in  insight — is  to  choke  up  a  vital  channel  of  com- 
munication between  management  and  men. 

The  folly  of  it  has  come  home  to  those  abler  employ- 
ers before  mentioned.  They  are  getting  at  least  a 
glimpse  of  their  men's  real  attitude  and  intention. 
Their  enlightenment  is  not  sudden.  It  has  been  going 
on  for  years,  the  war  merely  accelerating  the  process. 
Many  men  of  affairs  having  the  interest  or  desire  could 
find  out  the  best  that  was  being  done  or  thought  any- 
where. They  could  read  or  travel  and  talk  with  any 
man  whose  industrial  opinions  they  cared  for.  With- 
out much  trouble  they  could  give  themselves  as  wide 
a  knowledge  of  industrial  questions  as  they  pleased. 
There  is  nothing  disparaging  in  pointing  out  that  the 
business  executive  to-day  is,  on  the  whole,  decades  in 
advance  of  his  immediate  predecessors  as  regards  in- 
dustrial insight.  And  there  is  coming  up  a  new  genera- 
tion of  industrial  leaders  in  Britain,  bred  in  a  sj^m- 
pathy  with  democracy,  which  promises  much  for  the 
future  of  industry  and  for  right  relations  among  those 
who  share  its  burden. 

One  of  the  first  improvements  concerns  that  yawn- 
ing mental  gap  between  the  man  who  has  the  power  to 
give  orders  and  those  who  take  them.  The  building  up 
of  an  enlightened  foremanship  is  one  of  the  big  and  as 
yet  mainly  nntackled  jobs  of  management.  That  here 
and    there    good    beginnings    have    been    made    only 


SIDELIGHTS  ON  INDUSTRY  75 

strengthens  the  sense  of  need.  As  clear  and  decisive 
is  the  need,  if  management  is  to  win  the  respect  of  the 
managed,  for  finer  tools  than  have  thus  far  been  used. 
The  man  power  that  is  enlisted  for  the  world's  re- 
construction will  have  to  be  dealt  with  in  terms  that 
suggest  an  understanding  of  its  hopes  and  sense  of 
values.^  To  grasp  this  is  to  have  the  secret  of  suc- 
cessful management  in  the  days  to  come. 

At  the  other  end  the  masses,  the  rank  and  file,  the 
working  forces — however  we  choose  to  put  it — have 
also  been  undergoing  a  mental  overhauling.  The  ex- 
tent of  it  is  even  yet  hardly  realized  by  the  man  who 
leaves  his  office  after  the  day's  work,  sees  the  men  flow 
through  the  gates,  and  then  proceeds  to  his  home  or 
club,  where  he  meets  those  who  think  as  he  does,  have 
about  the  same  kind  of  information  as  to  what  is  going 
on,  and  where  he  never  gets  a  glimmer  of  a  life  which 
takes  on  fresh  vigor  and  fervor  after  the  factory  win- 
dows are  darkened. 

To  get  an  idea  of  what  is  really  happening  to  the 
workingman  one  must  go  to  the  sources  of  his  inspira- 
tion— to  his  meetings  and  gathering  places,  to  the  eve- 
ning school,  the  public  school,  the  free  lectures,  read 
the  press  and  the  literature  of  the  crowded  quarters, 
and  browse  among  their  dingy  bookstalls  and  pushcarts 
laden  with  the  solidest  reading  matter  outside  of  the 
specialists '  reference  shelves.  And  these  are  only  a  few 
of  the  stimulants  of  the  modern  workman.  Intelligent 
executives  are  aware  of  these  stirrings  and  are  not 
unsympathetic  with  them.  They  are,  in  fact,  earnestly 
trying  to  square  their  own  ideas  of  handling  the  work- 

1  See  pape  287.  The  Labor  Party's  Statement  on  the  Labor  Problems 
after  the  War. 


76  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

force  with  this  new  self-respect  of  their  employees. 
The  motive  that  prompts  them  is  not  wholly  selfish. 
They  welcome  the  coming  of  an  organization  in  which 
the  lowliest  member  may  feel  that  he  has  something  to 
chip  in  of  suggestion,  criticism  and  idealism. 

Industrial  unrest  in  Britain  can  no  longer  be  ac- 
counted for  by  dissatisfaction  with  wage  rates  or  hours 
of  labor,  as  in  the  early  days  of  trade-union  agitation. 
There  was  a  time,  not  long  past,  when  it  was  possible 
to  ask  in  regard  to  a  particular  dispute  ''How  much  do 
they  want  this  time?"  An  increase  of  a  penny  an 
hour  or  a  couple  of  shillings  a  week  represented  gener- 
ally the  extent  of  the  demands.  Sometimes  the  men  re- 
sented bad  factory  conditions  or  objected  to  the  man- 
ners or  lack  of  manners  of  their  foremen,  and  ceased 
work  in  protest;  sometimes  they  wanted  a  shorter 
working  day,  less  overtime,  a  rearrangement  of  rest 
days,  and  the  like ;  but  broadly  it  may  be  said  that  un- 
til a  few  years  ago  the  workers  as  a  class  were  not 
much  in  revolt  against  any  system  as  such  or  acutely 
conscious  of  there  being  anything  wrong  with  their 
place  in  industry.  Within  a  short  period,  however,  a 
marked  change  has  taken  place  in  attitude.  A  new 
note  of  criticism  crept  into  their  propaganda,  denying 
the  claim  that  industry  was  already  well  managed  and 
could  not  be  improved.  Among  large  sections  of  the 
workers,  especially  among  the  younger  men,  a  new 
temper  has  appeared. 

Their  ideas  are  easy  to  dismiss  with  a  contemptuous 
shrug  as  half-baked  notions  of  the  imperfectly  edu- 
cated. Imperfectly  educated,  indeed,  the  j^ounger 
workiugmen  may  be,  and  victims  of  phrases ;  but  these 
men  are  tenacious ;  one  creed  is  expounded  by  the  en- 


SIDELIGHTS  ON  INDUSTRY  77 

ergetic  men  of  the  guild  movement  and  the  shop-stew- 
ard movement,  which  declares  that  the  worker  is  no 
longer  a  mere  cog  in  the  industrial  machine.  It  in- 
furiates the  worker  to  be  described  as  a  "hand";  he 
repudiates  the  notion  that  he  ought  to  be  content 
with  a  slow  amelioration  of  his  lot.  Much  of  his  dis- 
like of  the  welfare  schemes  put  forward  by  employers, 
his  contempt  of  profit-sharing  arrangements,  still  more 
his  suspicion  of  "scientific  management"  cannot  be  ex- 
plained except  by  reference  to  his  stubborn  suspicion 
that  his  claim  to  be  treated  as  a  human  being  is  subtly 
being  circumvented.  It  is  less  and  less  possible  to 
humor  him.  What  he  wants  is  to  be  treated  as  an 
equal.  One  has  only  to  come  into  contact  with  these 
groups  of  which  I  speak  to  realize  that  increases  in 
wages,  shorter  working  hours,  welfare  schemes,  pen- 
sions and  even  a  share  of  the  profits,  though  desirable 
in  themselves,  do  not  go  far  enough.  The  active  spirits 
among  the  rank  and  file  are  bent  upon  raising  the  status 
of  their  class. 

The  amount  of  quiet  but  effective  education  going  on 
among  the  workmen  of  these  isles  is  barely  appreci- 
ated by  the  public  at  large.  Ask  the  man  on  the  street 
what  he  knows  about  the  Workers'  Educational  As- 
sociation and  he  will  probably  tell  you  that  he  has  never 
heard  of  it ;  or,  if  he  has,  the  chances  are  that  he  har- 
bors a  misty  notion  of  its  being  some  academic  sort  of 
thing.  Nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  truth. 
This  association  and  other  like  activities  among  the 
men  have  in  view  the  big,  long-headed  purpose  of  fit- 
ting the  British  worker  for  a  large  place  and  respon- 
sibility in  the  conduct  of  industry.  The  rank  and  file 
are  taking  in  hand  the  job  of  improving  the  man-power 


78  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

quality  of  the  country,  doing  this  in  the  strong  convic- 
tion that  only  as  they  fit  themselves  can  they  hope  to 
get  and  keep  a  bigger  role  in  the  management  of  in- 
dustry. Oxford  University  has  been  in  this  undertak- 
ing a  noteworthy  assistance  and  inspiration.  Some 
of  the  brightest  and  ablest  graduates  of  this  and,  in- 
deed, of  other  universities,  too,  have  been  leaders  and 
teachers  in  this  work. 

What  is  the  Workers'  Educational  Association,  or 
the  W.  E.  A.,  as  it  is  better  known?  Founded  in  1903 
by  a  group  of  trade  union  and  cooperative  society  mem- 
bers the  W.  E.  A.  now  comprises  nearly  three  thousand 
organizations,  such  as  trades  councils,  cooperative  edu- 
cation committees,  workingmen's  clubs  and  teachers' 
associations.  Its  local  branches  cover  the  industrial 
centers  of  England,  Scotland,  Wales,  Ireland,  Aus- 
tralia, New  Zealand,  Canada  and  South  Africa.  Sup- 
port for  this  work  flows  from  a  large  number  of  small 
contributions  and  from  government  grants.  Work- 
men enroll  for  as  much  as  a  three  years'  course,  and 
keep  up  a  good  attendance.  In  the  summer  school  for 
workingmen  at  Oxford  you  will  find  a  roomful  of  men 
— potters,  plumbers,  carpenters,  miners  and  machin- 
ists— wrestling  over  economic  questions  with  profes- 
sors of  world-wide  fame. 

Prof.  Gilbert  Murray,  the  famous  Greek  scholar, 
tells  this  incident: 

''There  was  a  close  friend  of  mine,  once  my  secre- 
tary, who  gave  up  that  post  to  become  a  W.  E.  A. 
teacher.  In  this  new  work  he  had  a  very  small  salary, 
and  hard  work.  He  had  offers  at  higher  salaries,  but 
he  refused  them  all  for  this  teaching  of  workingmen. 
When  the  war  came  he  enlisted,  and  after  he  had  re- 


SIDELIGHTS  ON  INDUSTRY  79 

ceived  a  commission  he  found  himself  commanding 
some  of  those  North  Country  miners  who  before  the 
war  used  to  form  his  classes  in  history  and  political 
science.  When  he  was  mortally  wounded  some  of  his 
men  almost  gave  up  their  owti  lives  in  a  long  and  brave 
effort  to  save  him.  One  of  these  men  later  received 
the  Victoria  Cross  for  his  effort  to  save  his  teacher 
commander." 

Euskin  College,  at  Oxford,  was  founded  to  bring 
workingmen  under  university  influence,  and  among 
other  activities  it  has  been  carrying  on  correspondence 
courses  for  the  men  who  could  not  become  residents. 
The  Central  Labor  College  is  a  rebel  offshoot  of  this 
institution,  and  operates  through  the  Plebs  League. 
This  college  is  supported  by  the  National  Union  of 
Eailwaymen  and  the  South  Wales  Miners'  Federation. 
The  state  of  the  mind  of  the  Plebs  League  is  sufficiently 
indicated  by  its  motto:  ''I  can  promise  to  be  candid 
but  not  impartial."  A  monthly,  the  ''Plebs  Maga- 
zine," was  issued  until  suppressed  by  the  government, 
it  is  generally  believed  for  its  revolutionary  activities 
during  the  war.  The  Commission  on  Industrial  Un- 
rest found  that  the  propaganda  of  the  Central  Labor 
College  was  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  trouble  in 
South  Wales  coal  district.  In  March,  1917,  the  com- 
mission states,  nineteen  classes  were  being  conducted 
in  South  Wales,  with  some  five  hundred  men  in  at- 
tendance. But  the  influence  of  the  work  could  not  be 
measured  by  the  small  membership  of  these  classes. 
This  influence  is,  as  the  committee  points  out,  "de- 
liberate of  purpose,"  and  forms  a  leaven  which  can 
on  occasion  ferment  considerably. 

How  many  men  if  they  were  asked  what  was  the 


80  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

greatest  business  enterprise  in  the  British  Empire — 
greatest  in  volume  of  trade  combined  with  the  largest 
number  of  shareholders — could  answer  offhand  "The 
cooperative  movement"?  Here  is  one  of  the  giant  en- 
terprises of  the  present  day.  It  is  the  biggest  school 
of  business  on  earth,  providing  workmen  with  experi- 
ence in  business  management  such  as  nothing  else 
gives;  it  is  the  recruiting  and  training  station  for  in- 
dustrial leaders  to  a  degree  which  warrants  my  giv- 
ing more  than  passing  mention  to  the  workings  of  the 
cooperative  movement. 

In  origin  the  movement  dates  back  to  the  days  of 
Kobert  Owen  and  the  Rochdale  Pioneers — the  first  co- 
operative store  being  that  founded  at  Rochdale  in  Lan- 
cashire by  the  now  historic  twenty-eight  poor  weavers, 
who  in  December,  1844,  opened  the  Auld  We\^'urs' 
Shop,  in  Toad  Lane,  as  a  grocery  store.  This  shop 
at  first  was  open  only  on  Saturday  and  Monday  eve- 
nings ;  one  member  acting  as  salesman,  another  as  sec- 
retary, a  third  as  cashier  to  a  trade  of  about  ten  dol- 
lars a  week,  while  a  fourth  was  custodian  of  the  capital, 
amounting  to  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars, 
gathered  by  dint  of  hard  saving.  To-day  the  coopera- 
tive stores  are  the  recognized  medium  of  supply  for 
the  household  necessities  of  not  much  less  than  half  the 
industrial  population  of  Great  Britain. 

The  device  that  made  the  Rochdale  Pioneers  the 
type  of  all  time  and  established  the  movement  was  the 
division  of  ''profits"  or  surplus  on  the  purchases  of  all 
the  customers. 

From  the  humble  beginnings  of  twenty-eight  mem- 
bers the  movement  has  grown,  until  to-day  the  United 


SIDELIGHTS  ON  INDUSTRY  81 

Kingdom  includes  fifteen  hundred  societies  with  an 
aggregate  membership  of  three  and  a  half  million 
shareholders.  Its  annual  trade  is  now  no  less  than  one 
billion  dollars ;  its  capital  in  shares,  loans  and  deposits 
amounts  to  three  hundred  and  forty  millions;  its  re- 
serve fund  equals  four  hundred  millions,  with  a 
''profi.t"  or  surplus  of  one  hundred  millions  a  year. 
The  value  of  its  land,  buildings  and  stock  is  one  hun- 
dred millions,  and  it  has  at  least  fifty  millions  invested 
in  house-building  schemes  for  its  members.  The  per- 
sons employed  directly  in  the  movement  number  one 
hundred  and  sixty  thousand,  and  the  annual  wages  bill 
is  sixty  millions.  More  than  six  hundred  thousand 
dollars  annually  is  set  aside  for  purposes  of  education, 
propaganda  and  recreation;  a  similiar  sum  being  de- 
voted to  charitable  purposes. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  the  whole  of  this  colos- 
sal undertaking  is  managed  by  workingmen,  such  as 
colliers,  engineers,  weavers,  spinners  and  carpenters, 
who  give  their  scant  leisure  without  any  fee  or  reward, 
and  travel  up  and  down  the  land  in  the  interest  of  this 
movement  for  bare  expenses,  we  realize  at  once  that 
something  almost  religiously  deep  and  strong  must  be 
acting  on  the  minds  of  this  great  army. 

J.  S.  May,  the  general  secretary  of  the  International 
Cooperative  Alliance,  told  me:  *'One  of  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  the  movement  is  that  it  shall  have 
no  dealings  with  the  liquor  traffic.  In  spite  of  the 
grocers'  licenses  this  principle  is  rigidly  adhered  to, 
and  so  far  from  weakening  on  the  question  as  the 
movement  develops  the  tendency  is,  for  example,  in 
acquiring  land  either  for  business  purposes   or  the 


82  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

many  housing  schemes  of  the  societies,  to  extinguish 
existing  licenses,  and  certainly  to  prevent  them  from 
operating  on  cooperative  soil. 

*'0f  course  the  great  contribution  which  the  move- 
ment has  made  to  tlie  well-being  of  the  people  lies  in 
facilities  for  thrift.  In  the  first  place,  the  system  of 
cash  payments  for  all  goods  has  worked  a  revolution 
in  the  habits  of  the  people  once  compromised  by  the 
system  of  'truck'  which  many  employers  set  up  in  their 
factories.  Robert  Owen  made  the  first  practical  ex- 
periment to  combat  this  evil  at  his  works  at  New  Lan- 
ark in  the  early  days  of  the  nineteenth  century  by  es- 
tablishing a  cost-price  store  for  the  use  of  his  work- 
people. Their  wages  were  paid  in  the  full  instead  of 
being  set  off  against  their  score  at  the  shop  of  the 
master  and  they  were  at  liberty  to  spend  their  wages 
at  the  store  which  Owen  had  provided  or  to  go  else- 
where. Such  a  scheme  was  then  considered  quixotic 
in  the  extreme,  but  the  modern  cooperative  movement 
has  done  much  to  secure  the  passing  of  the  Truck  Acts 
which  abolished  the  w^hole  bad  system. 

''The  plan  of  building  up  share  capital  by  small  pay- 
ments of  six  cents  and  upward,  together  with  the  later 
rule  that  dividends  on  purchases  should  be  capitalized 
up  to  the  amount  of  the  minimum  shareholding,  made 
the  thrift  of  the  members  nearly  automatic.  Many 
a  family  to-day  realizes  to  the  full  the  truth  of  the 
saying  that  'an  Englishman's  house  is  his  castle' 
simply  as  the  result  of  the  saving  thus  practised. 
They  have  literally  eaten  themselves  into  their  own 
house  and  home. 

"The  boards  or  committees  of  management  consist 
solely  of  working  men  and  women,  who  are  elected  and 


SIDELIGHTS  ON  INDUSTRY  83 

usually  serve  for  one  year.  Their  services  are  gra- 
tuitous except  in  the  case  of  the  cooperative  wholesale 
societies,  where  they  are  required  to  give  their  whole 
time  to  the  work,  and  are  therefore  paid  salaries,  the 
highest  of  which  is  under  twenty-five  hundred  dollars 
a  year. 

"After  the  committees  of  management  come  the 
business  managers  and  secretaries.  The  training  of 
such  men  has  been  a  fairly  long  and  varied  process, 
which  will  best  be  illustrated  by  one  or  two  examples. 
Alexander  McLeod,  the  late  general  manager  and  sec- 
retary of  the  AVoolwich  Society,  was  a  working  machin- 
ist in  the  Royal  Arsenal  over  fifty  years  ago.  He  and 
his  shopmates  decided  to  establish  a  cooperative  so- 
ciety in  Woolwich.  They  began  in  a  small  back  room 
in  a  side  street  near  the  entrance  to  the  factory,  and 
announced  in  the  workshop  that  they  would  attend  on 
certain  evenings  in  the  week  to  distribute  the  chest 
of  tea  purchased  by  the  aid  of  the  combined  contribu- 
tions of  their  shopmates.  Eventually  a  shop  was  taken 
in  the  town  and  the  society  grew  until  to-day  it  numbers 
over  fifty  thousand  members  and  its  trade  approxi- 
mates to  one  half  million  sterling  a  year.  It  is  the 
largest  and  most  successful  society  near  London. 

**In  more  recent  times  the  movement  has  been  com- 
pelled, by  reason  of  its  rapid  increase  and  the  dearth 
of  men  acquainted  with  the  peculiarities  of  coopera- 
tive trade,  to  train  its  own  managers.  Generally 
speaking,  this  is  practicable  because  each  society  is 
autonomous,  and  begins  in  small  ways.  There  is  little 
difficulty  in  obtaining  from  an  existing  society  a  man 
trained  in  the  methods  of  buying  and  selling  who  is 
capable  of  controlling  operations  at  the  start  of  a  new 


84  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

society,  especially  when  assured  of  the  assistance  and 
advice  which  the  central  federations  of  our  societies 
place  at  his  disposal  in  the  matter  of  purchasing, 
stocks,  accountancy,  and  so  on.  As  the  society  grows 
and  spreads  into  branches  salesmen  who  show  business 
aptitude  and  initiative  are  selected  to  take  charge  of 
the  brand  I  shops.  Here  begins  a  very  important  part 
of  the  training. 

*'Wlien  the  history  of  the  great  war  comes  to  be 
written  in  all  its  fullness  the  world  will  be  amazed  to 
learn  what  a  great  part  the  cooperative  organization 
and  the  influence  of  its  ideals  have  played  in  securing 
the  best  interests  of  the  nations  affected  by  the  w^ar. 
I  refer  directly  to  the  influence  and  work  of  the  asso- 
ciations of  workingmen  and  women.  Whether  you 
look  to  Britain  or  France  or  Russia,  or  even  among  the 
Central  Powers  of  Europe  arrayed  against  the  forces 
of  democracy  and  liberty,  the  result  is  the  same. 
Every  government  has  been  faced  with  the  necessity 
of  providing  for  the  needs  of  its  civil  population  out  of 
a  depleted  larder  and  a  world  shortage  of  foodstuifs 
and  other  necessaries  of  life. 

*'The  stocks  available  to  the  civil  population  were 
still  further  reduced  by  the  necessity  of  insuring  to  the 
army  at  the  Front  a  full  supply  of  the  best  that  the 
world  afforded.  Faced  with  the  necessity  of  dis- 
tributing supplies  on  the  basis  of  the  miracle  of  the 
loaves  and  fishes;  confronted  also  with  the  possibility 
— if  they  failed  to  secure  something  like  equitable  dis- 
tribution— of  discontent  and  anarchy  at  home,  the  gov- 
ernments of  Europe  separately  but  as  if  with  one  con- 
sent adopted  a  national  form  of  cooperation.  We  are 
far  from  saying  that  their  application  of  cooperative 


SIDELIGHTS  ON  INDUSTRY  85 

methods  was  complete  or  even  scientifically  applied. 
The  governments  had  commandeered  stocks,  fixed 
prices  and  directed  the  channels  through  which  goods 
should  pass  to  the  consumers.  The  cooperative  so- 
cieties were  not  only  practically  immune  from  all  the 
severities  of  control,  except  the  difficulty  in  obtaining 
supplies,  but  their  experience  and  practice  had  been 
the  touchstone  of  government  prices  and  the  consum- 
ers' needs  during  the  war.  Again,  it  must  not  be  as- 
sumed that  the  prices  which  have  been  fixed  by  the 
Ministry  of  Food  have  been  the  lowest  at  which  co- 
operators  could  conduct  their  business." 

In  any  large  town,  particularly  in  the  north  of  Eng- 
land, you  cannot  walk  for  ten  minutes  through  any  in- 
dustrial neighborhood  without  coming  on  two  or  three 
branches  of  the  cooperative  store  that  serves  it.  If 
they  are  merely  local  branches  they  will  look  like  any 
ordinary  shop.  If  you  happen  to  strike  the  central 
store  you  will  find  it  housed  in  an  imposing  block  of 
buildings  not  much  different  from  the  department 
store  in  the  United  States. 

The  main  feature  of  the  cooperative  store  is  that  it 
exists  not  for  the  general  public  but  for  its  registered 
customers,  and  as  a  rule  no  one  but  the  registered  cus- 
tomer gets  a  cent  of  profit  out  of  the  concern.  That 
does  not  mean  that  the  ordinary  housewife  cannot  buy 
at  a  cooperative  store.  She  can.  You  can  go  into  a 
store  yourself  and  buy  a  pair  of  shoes  or  a  soft  hat  or 
a  loaf  of  bread  or  a  leg  of  mutton  or  a  stone  of  pota- 
toes or  a  ton  of  coal,  and  pay  for  them  at  the  market 
price.  The  store  has  no  objection  to  selling  to  you, 
but  if  you  want  to  reap  the  advantages  that  give  the 
cooperative  movement  its  reason  for   existence  you 


86  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

must  become  a  member  and  get  an  ofTicial  number. 
That  is  a  very  simple  matter.  All  that  is  necessary 
is  to  invest  anything,  from  five  dollars  to  a  thousand, 
in  the  store.  Five  per  cent  is  paid  on  the  money  and  at 
the  same  time  you  become  entitled  to  a  share  in  the 
profits  of  the  business,  in  proportion  not  to  your  hold- 
ing of  stock  but  to  the  volume  of  your  purchases  over 
the  counter. 

Every  time  the  mechanic's  wife  goes  to  the  store 
for  her  week's  groceries  or  her  bread  or  her  fuel  or  her 
pots  and  pans  she  gives  her  number  at  the  pay  desk 
and  receives  in  return  a  check  with  the  amount  of  her 
purchase  marked  on  it.  At  the  end  of  every  quarter 
the  store's  books  are  balanced,  and  all  the  profits,  after 
payment  of  rent,  wages,  management  expenses  and  the 
fixed  dividend  on  capital,  are  divided  among  the  mem- 
ber-purchasers in  proportion  to  the  totals  of  their  ac- 
counts with  the  store  for  the  period. 

There  is  one  exception  to  that:  In  addition  to  the 
payment  to  purchasers  there  is  often  a  small  bonus 
given  to  employees.  The  principle  involved  in  that 
is  important,  but  the  actual  benefit  to  the  employees  is 
small,  as  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  in  1916  the  1-1-84  re- 
tail cooperative  stores  in  Great  Britain  paid  out  nearly 
sixty  million  dollars  in  profits  divided  among  pur- 
chasers, and  only  about  three  hundred  and  seventy 
thousand  dollars  in  bonus  to  employees.  The  rate  at 
which  members  get  repayment  varies  in  different  so- 
cieties and  at  different  periods  from  perliaps  four  per 
cent  to  twelve  and  a  half  per  cent  of  what  they  have 
spent  in  the  preceding  three  months.  That  amount 
they  can  either  draw  in  cash  or  reinvest  in  the  store 
at  five  or  six  per  cent  interest. 


SIDELIGHTS  ON  INDUSTRY  87 

That  is  a  bare  outline  of  the  general  principles  on 
which  the  cooperative  movement  is  based,  but  it  gives 
no  adequate  impression  of  the  hold  the  movement  has 
established  on  the  industrial  communities  in  Great 
Britain.  To  get  that  you  need  to  go  and  explore  for 
yourself  the  possibilities  of  a  particular  store.  Take 
as  a  fair  example  the  society — the  full  title  of  every 
retail  store  is  "Industrial  Cooperative  Society,  Ltd." 
— at  Plymouth,  one  of  the  largest  and  most  prosperous 
in  the  south  of  England.  The  locality  served  by  the  so- 
ciety contains  a  population  of  250,000  people,  and  of 
these  it  is  claimed  that  180,000  draw  the  greater  part 
of  their  commodities  from  the  central  store  or  its 
branches.  The  actual  membership  of  the  store  is 
more  than  30,000,  but  most  of  these  are  buying  not  for 
a  single  person  but  for  a  family,  so  that  the  number 
squares  well  enough  with  the  180,000  given  above. 
Each  member  has  five  dollars  or  more — often  a  good 
deal  more — invested  in  the  business.  The  members 
are  at  once  the  customers  and  capitalists.  The  con- 
cern belongs  to  them.  They  finance  it  and  they  buy 
from  it,  and  at  the  end  of  every  quarter  they  get  back 
a  substantial  dividend  based  on  the  amount  of  their 
purchases. 

A  cooperative  society  of  this  type  throws  its  net 
wide.  At  the  central  store,  with  its  restaurant,  its 
library  and  its  lecture  hall,  you  can  buy  anything  man, 
woman  or  child  can  need,  from  a  pint  of  milk  to  a  ton 
of  coal.  But  in  volume  of  business  the  central  store 
probably  does  a  good  deal  less  than  the  total  of  its 
branches.  They  are  scattered  throughout  the  town 
and  in  a  number  of  surrounding  villages,  while  in  other 
villages,  where  there  is  no  actual  store,  a  motor-truck 


88  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

service  from  Plymouth  connects  the  consumer  direct  on 
two  or  three  days  a  week  with  the  central  establish- 
ment. The  branch  store  may  stock  every  kind  of 
goods  or  it  may  deal  in  one  fjarticular  line,  such  as 
milk  or  bread  or  meat  or  vegetables.  In  the  recent 
shortage  of  labor  and  transport  a  scheme  was  devisod 
to  reduce  the  deliveries  of  milk  by  setting  up  milk  de- 
pots all  over  the  town,  at  which  consumers  could  call 
for  what  they  needed,  without  going  more  than  a  few 
hundred  yards  from  their  doors. 

Though  the  most  striking  feature  of  the  cooperative 
movement  is  the  pecuniary  advantage  it  gives  to  its 
members  it  has  purposes  other  than  merely  financial. 
Most  societies  before  paying  out  the  quarterly  dividend 
deduct  an  assessment,  usually  of  five  per  cent,  for  edu- 
cational purposes.  Out  of  that  they  pay  instructors, 
run  evening  classes,  and  arrange  excellent  lectures, 
either  free  or  at  a  nominal  admission  fee.  The  Ply- 
mouth Society  has  gone  much  further.  A  few  years 
ago  a  large  estate  on  the  seacoast  about  ten  miles  from 
the  town  came  into  the  market.  The  cooperative  so- 
ciety bid  for  it  and  got  it.  It  included  some  nine  or 
ten  farms,  which  are  being  developed  to  supply  the  so- 
ciety with  milk  and  poultry  and  meat  and  vegetables ; 
and  also  two  or  three  excellent  houses  with  well  laid- 
out  grounds.  Two  of  these,  placed  in  beautiful  sur- 
roundings, have  been  fitted  up  as  guest  houses,  at  which 
members  of  the  society — the  great  majority  of  them, 
it  must  be  remembered,  mechanics — can  spend  a  week 
or  a  week-end  or  a  fortnight  at  rates  representing  a 
bare  margin  above  operating  costs.  From  time  to 
time  lecture  schools  are  arranged  here,  three  days  or  a 


SIDELIGHTS  ON  INDUSTRY  89 

week  being  devoted  to  the  study  of  economic  or  social 
or  literary  subjects. 

The  guest  houses  happen  to  lie  off  the  lines  of  rail- 
way, and  in  order  that  they  may  be  put  to  the  fullest 
uses  the  management  of  the  society,  having  little  use 
through  the  summer  months  for  its  motor  coal  carts, 
fits  them  out  as  chars-ci-hancs  and  runs  half -day  trips 
out  from  PljTuouth  to  the  house  on  the  coast,  carrying 
its  members  ten  miles  out  and  ten  miles  back,  giving 
them  tea  and  charging  them  twenty-five  cents  for  the 
service. 

Here  is  a  typical  program  of  these  conferences : 

First  Week:     Saturday,  August  4,  to  Friday,  August  10. 

8:45  A.M.  to  10:30  a.m.     Morning  Lectures,  followed  by  discus- 
sion.    Subject  of  course  for  week:     The  Future  of  British  Co- 
operation. 
6 :45  p.  M.  to  8 :00  p.  M.,  Evening  Classes. 
Class  Subjects:     Class  A:     The  Report  of  the  Cooperative  Sur- 
vey Committee. 
Class  B  :     The  Cooperative  Control 

of  Raw  Materials. 
Class    C:     Cooperative   Finance. 

MORNING  LECTURES 

Monday 

Daily  Subject — The  Lessons  of  the  Past  and  Their  Indication  of 

Future  Possibilities. 
Class   A.     Daily   Subject — Retail   and  Wholesale  Distribution. 
Class  B.     Daily  Subject — The  Necessity  for  Cooperative  Control. 
Class  C.     Daily  Subject — Powers  and  Limitations  of  Societies  in 
Raising  Capital. 

Tuesday 
Daily  Subject — The  Future  in  Home  Markets. 
Class  A.     Daily  Subject — Cooperative  Production. 
Class  B.     Daily  Subject — Requirements  essential  to  a  Cooperative 

Control. 
Class  C.     Daily  Subject — Present-Day  Resources  and  Their  In- 


90  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

The  cooperative  wholesale  society  is  a  remarkable 
organization.  It  is  a  vast  productive  concern  which 
supplies  practically  no  one  but  the  retail  stores  affili- 
ated with  it.  The  relation  of  the  retail  store  to  the 
wholesale  society  is  exactly  that  of  the  individual  con- 
sumer to  the  retail  store.  Every  store  becomes  a  mem- 
ber of  the  wholesale  society,  investing  capital  in  it, 
buying  from  it,  and  receiving  back  periodically  its  sliare 
of  the  wholesale  society's  profits  in  the  form  of  a  divi- 
dend on  what  is  has  purchased.  This  dividend,  of 
course,  explains  why  the  retail  societies'  stores  are 
filled  with  the  products  of  the  wholesale  society  in- 
stead of  those  of  private  manufacturers.  On  that 
basis  the  cooperative  wholesale  society  has  built  up  one 
of  the  largest  trading  concerns  in  the  United  King- 
dom. Its  turnover  in  1917,  the  last  year  for  which 
official  figures  are  published,  exceeded  two  hundred  and 
seventy  million  dollars — and  the  volume  of  trade  is 
steadily  increasing.  It  owns  tea  plantations  and  coal 
mines,  wharves  and  granaries  and  steamers,  flour  mills 
and  shoe  and  clothing  factories,  foundries  and  farms — 
every  kind  of  plant,  in  short,  needed  to  supply, 
through  the  medium  of  the  distribution  stores,  the 
wants  of  a  clientele  amounting  to  some  twelve  to  fif- 
teen million  people. 

A  movement  as  vast  as  this  has  become  could  not 
entirely  escape  the  strictures  of  even  sympathetic  crit- 
ics. One  of  its  foundation  principles  is  to  ''conciliate 
the  conflicting  interests  of  the  capitalists,  the  worker 
and  the  purchaser,  through  the  equitable  division 
among  them  of  the  fund  commonly  known  as  profit." 
That  is  an  admirable  ideal ;  and  so  far  as  the  capitalist 
and  the  purchaser  are  concerned  it  is  completely  real- 


SIDELIGHTS  ON  INDUSTRY  91 

ized,  for  under  the  cooperative  system  the  capitalist 
and  the  purchaser  are  one.  Where  the  scheme  fails 
to  fulfil  early  hopes  is  in  regard  to  its  own  employees. 
In  the  distributive  societies,  as  has  been  said,  the  em- 
ployees often  share  to  a  small  extent  in  the  quarterly 
dividend.  But  in  the  case  of  the  wholesale  society, 
which  is  an  employer  on  a  very  large  scale,  the  relation 
between  the  management  and  the  workers  is  not  very 
different  from  that  which  we  find  between  ordinary 
employers  and  their  operatives.  The  wages  are  not 
materially  higher,  and  except  in  a  few  special  cases 
the  workers  have  no  more  control  over  industry  than 
they  would  have  if  employed  by  a  private  manufac- 
turer. As  a  consequence  industrial  disputes  are  of 
periodic  occurrence,  and  strikes,  which  ought  to  be 
unknown  under  a  true  cooperative  system,  have  by  no 
means  been  eradicated.  The  truth  appears  to  be  that 
though  the  movement  has  put  the  relation  between 
capital  and  consumer  on  a  new  and  satisfactory  foot- 
ing it  has  not  come  near  solving  the  problem  of  the  re- 
lation between  capital  and  labor. 

But  if  that  is  true  of  the  movement  as  a  whole  there 
are  a  number  of  special  instances  in  which  suggestive 
experiments  in  the  way  of  true  cooperative  production 
are  in  progress.  These  take  the  form  of  associations 
of  workers  combining  for  their  own  benefit,  and  for 
the  most  part  with  their  own  capital,  to  set  up  a  fac- 
tory where  they  can  work  under  conditions  laid  down 
by  themselves,  disposing  of  their  goods  through  the 
ordinary  channels  of  trade  or  through  some  coopera- 
tive society  which  is  glad  to  enter  into  trade  relations 
with  a  concern  animated  so  largely  by  its  own  motives. 
One  of  the  most  interesting  of  such  enterprises,  the 


92  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Walsall  Locks  and  Cart  Gear,  Ltd.,  which  has  been 
in  existence  for  some  forty-five  years,  does  an  exten- 
sive export  trade,  having  thus,  of  course,  to  face  on 
even  terms  the  competition  of  the  ordinary  private 
manufacturer.  The  management  committee  consists 
wholly  of  employees  and  is  appointed  by  the  share- 
holders, most  of  the  latter  being  employees  also.  The 
workers,  therefore,  are  completely  self-managed.  The 
wages  paid  are  said  to  be  the  best  in  the  trade,  and 
the  employees  get  in  addition,  from  the  annual  profits, 
a  bonus  equaling  five  to  ten  per  cent  on  their  yearly 
wage. 

Other  like  organizations  could  be  mentioned. 
There  is,  for  example,  a  well-known  printing  business, 
the  Garden  City  Press,  at  Letchworth.  There  are 
clothing  factories  at  Kettering,  Wellingborough  and 
elsewhere ;  some  fifteen  boot  and  shoe  factories  in  dif- 
ferent localities;  and  a  number  of  other  isolated  busi- 
nesses based  on  the  same  principle  of  self-government 
and  equal  division  of  profits. 

The  progress  of  these  self-managed  productive  so- 
cieties well  deserves  attention,  for  the  principle  they 
embody  would  appear  to  supply  one  answer  to  the  grow- 
ing demand  of  every  class  of  worker  for  a  larger  share 
in  management.  Yet  the  fact  remains  that  the  self- 
management  movement  is  making  little  headway  ex- 
cept in  the  case  of  agriculture.  Agriculture,  however, 
cannot  quite  fairly  be  compared  with  the  instances  that 
have  been  quoted,  because  in  those  cases  the  point  in 
question  was  a  combination  between  employees,  while 
in  this  case  it  is  a  combination  between  a  number  of  in- 
dependent farmers.  None  the  less,  the  movement  now 
in  progress  is  of  great  significance.    Following  the  ex- 


SIDELIGHTS  OX  INDUSTRY  93 

ample  of  Ireland,  where  the  Irish  Agricultural  Organi- 
zation Society,  under  the  wise  and  stimulating  guidance 
of  Sir  Horace  Plunkett,  has  lifted  the  whole  farming 
industry  of  the  country  into  prosperity,  farmers'  co- 
operative societies  fostered  by  a  central  agricultural 
organization  society  are  springing  up  all  over  England. 
For  the  most  part  these  are  connected  with  the  dairy- 
ing side  of  agriculture,  the  farmers  of  a  given  locality 
combining  to  establish  a  central  factory  or  depot  to 
which  they  send  their  milk  each  day  to  be  cooled  and 
Pasteurized  and  despatched  to  the  town  or  made  into 
cream  or  butter  on  the  premises.  The  factory  is  con- 
trolled by  the  farmers  themselves  through  a  manager 
appointed  by  them  in  their  capacity  of  shareholders. 
The  movement  is  growing  rapidly  and  will  certainly 
increase  in  scope  as  well  as  in  the  territory  it  covers. 
Cooperative  buying  of  seeds,  fertilizers  and  equipment 
is  being  added  to  cooperative  selling,  and  in  connection 
with  the  Central  Agricultural  Organization  Society  an 
Agricultural  Wholesale  Society  has  just  been  founded 
to  undertake  the  manufacture  of  machinery  for  the  co- 
operative factories  and  the  individual  farmers  who 
own  them. 

The  cooperative  movement  in  Great  Britain  in  its 
different  forms  has  secured  a  place  in  the  economic  life 
of  the  country  which  goes  entirely  unobserved  by  the 
average  business  man.  But  it  should  be  observed  that 
the  movement  has  established  a  hold  only  on  the  indus- 
trial population.  That  hold  it  has  immensely  strength- 
ened during  the  war,  for  at  a  time  when  the  cry  of 
profiteering  was  rife  the  cooperative-society  member 
knew  himself  to  be  absolutely  secure,  since  every  penny 
of  extra  profit  his  store  might  make  would  come  back 


94  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

into  his  own  pocket  and  those  of  his  fellow  members 
at  the  end  of  every  quarter.  One  sign  of  the  impor- 
tance of  the  cooperative  movement  is  the  fact  that  it  is 
at  present  discussing  the  starting  of  a  national  daily 
paper,  while  it  has  come  for  the  first  time  into  tlie  po- 
litical field,  having  run  ten  candidates  at  the  recent 
general  election  on  a  special  cooperative  ticket.  Few 
great  movements  in  Great  Britain  are  less  understood 
or  better  worth  understanding,  and  none  is  having  a 
more  marked  influence  on  the  man-power  situation. 

What  the  success  of  the  cooperative  movement 
teaches  is  just  this :  The  way  to  bigger  industrial  op- 
portunity and  satisfaction  is  along  the  line  of  prepa- 
ration, effort  and  staying  power.  That  the  man  power 
of  the  country  can  fill  a  bigger  place  than  it  has  done 
up  to  now  is  proved  by  its  capacity  to  swing  one  of  the 
greatest  businesses  in  the  world.  Men  who  care  in- 
telligently enough  to  be  willing  to  pay  the  price  may  go 
as  far  in  industrial  leadership  and  management  as  they 
choose.  But  the  price  is  always  preparation.  No  in- 
dustry can  be  run  on  the  basis  of  a  debating  club.  It 
is  sure  to  dry  up  while  the  resolutions  are  on  the  table. 
Management  is  an  affair  of  brains  and  not  emotions. 
Its  technic  has  to  be  won  patiently.  Though  no  mys- 
tery— as  I  have  pointed  out  in  the  opening  quotation — 
the  business  of  operating  a  going  concern  is  no  sport 
for  the  amateur.  Mr.  Sidney  Webb  has  said  many 
harsh  things  of  industry  as  it  has  been  carried  on,  but 
nobody  has  put  the  matter  of  management  in  clearer 
words : 

"Under  any  social  order,  from  now  to  Utopia,  man- 
agement is  indispensable  and  all-enduring.  The  more 
that  men  become  capable  of  cooperation  in  enterprise  of 


SIDELIGHTS  ON  INDUSTRY  96 

larger  and  larger  scope,  and  of  greater  and  greater 
complexity,  the  more  indispensable  becomes  the  man- 
ager to  any  high  degree  of  efficiency  of  human  effort." 

British  employers  are  now  frankly  facing  the  broad- 
ening of  the  foundation  for  management.  They  can 
no  longer  hold  a  narrow  view  of  the  foreman's  or  the 
manager's  place  as  they  come  to  perceive  that  if  the 
basis  of  shop  administration  is  broadened  much  benefit 
for  industry  will  result.  The  times  are  much  too 
critical  for  old  prejudices  or  traditions  to  be  allowed 
to  defeat  the  coming  together  of  the  forces  that  keep 
the  wheels  of  industry  turning.  Where  beginnings 
have  been  made  in  widening  the  opportunity  for  team- 
work in  management  the  results  have  given  satisfac- 
tion. 

Observe,  too,  that  the  man  power  of  industry  is  in 
itself  a  resource  in  management.  To  see  and  use  it  as 
such  is  the  beginning  of  industrial  wisdom.  Both  con- 
sciously and  by  indirection  the  cooperative  movement 
takes  this  proposition  for  granted. 

A  factory  in  the  north  of  England  employing  two 
thousand  mechanics  has  been  for  two  years  intrusting 
to  a  committee  of  its  employees  all  matters  of  shop 
discipline,  investigation  of  grievances,  and  reports  on 
conditions  which  needed  the  attention  of  the  manage- 
ment. The  chairman  of  this  committee  has  written  to 
tell  me  of  his  work. 

"Our  first  aim  was,"  he  writes,  "to  prevent  friction 
wherever  possible  between  man  and  man,  or  between 
the  employees  and  the  management.  Looking  back 
over  the  past  two  years  of  my  own  experiences  I  am 
amazed  when  I  consider  the  number  of  complaints  tliat 
were  laid  before  our  committee  for  investigation.     The 


96  MANAGEiMENT  AND  MEN 

majority  were  of  bogus  character.  Through  lack  of 
knowledge  men  thought  they  had  a  legitimate  grievance 
against  the  foreman  or  the  management,  and  when  we 
carefully  inquired  into  the  complaints  we  very  often 
discovered  it  was  only  a  delusion.  We  should  never 
accept  any  statement  or  grievance  as  gospel  truth. 
By  this  method  you  do  not  discredit  yourself  or  the 
committee  by  putting  up  a  bad  case  to  the  management. 

''Also  you  reduce  the  friction  to  a  minimum,  because 
you  wipe  out  a  fancied  grievance.  When  we  decide 
that  an  employee  is  not  .iustified  in  his  complaint  it  has 
more  effect  with  the  men  in  the  shop  than  a  decision 
of  the  foreman,  because  the  committee  is  the  counsel 
set  up  to  represent  the  interest  of  the  men. 

*'0n  the  committee  we  do  not  want  talking  machines. 
We  want  the  best  men  in  the  shop  with  the  greatest 
amount  of  common  sense.  It  is  vitally  important  to 
encourage  the  best  men  to  be  elected,  and  make  the 
position  a  post  of  honor.  The  works  management 
should  recognize  this  committee.  After  careful  inquiry 
into  cases,  individual  or  departmental,  they  decide  on 
what  cases  go  before  the  management — which  acts  with- 
out delay — and  discuss  pros  and  cons.  If  there  is  a 
really  good  case,  and  the  management  is  wishful  to  be 
fair  and  just,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  result." 

There  is  a  dynamo-manufacturing  plant  in  Bradford 
employing  more  than  four  thousand  men,  which  has 
developed  its  works  and  shop  committee  system  to  an 
extraordinary  degree.  Team  spirit  has  been  a  slogan 
with  the  capable  men  who  direct  this  successful  es- 
tablishment; the  general  manager  of  the  works  is  a 
good  type  of  the  new  executive  who  sees  in  the  work- 


SIDELIGHTS  ON  INDUSTRY  97 

ing  force  an  overlooked  asset  in  the  proper  direction  of 
industry. 

"I  suppose  that  in  every  country,"  he  said  in  out- 
lining the  plant  policy,  "there  are  a  certain  number 
of  the  community  who  love  a  bogy. 

''Now  that  the  war  is  over  and  the  bogy  of  German 
domination,  which  has  certainly  been  a  pretty  substan- 
tial one,  has  disappeared,  the  latest  bogy  is  that  of  not 
ordinary  industrial  unrest  but  blood-red  revolution. 
This  revolution  apparently  is  to  come  because  labor, 
born  with  a  greater  share  of  original  sin  than  the  share- 
holding classes,  has  now  been  rendered,  by  govern- 
ment pampering  and  a  totally  unnecessary  education, 
quite  impossible.  This  represents  with  tolerable  ac- 
curacy the  view  of  some  of  my  class. 

''While  it  is  ridiculous  to  take  the  views  expressed 
above  about  the  future  industrial  situation  it  is  equally 
ridiculous  to  under-estimate  the  complex  nature  of  the 
problem  which  confronts  British  industry  at  the  mo- 
ment. British  labor  is  not  Bolshevik;  British  labor  is 
not  even  republican ;  but  it  is  sane  and  it  is  progressive. 
You  cannot  expect  a  workman  to  be  a  semigenius  in 
your  interest  and  a  fool  in  his  own. 

"The  war  has  merely  accelerated  the  labor  policy, 
it  has  not  increased  the  claims  of  labor.  Labor  is  out 
for  a  new  'orientation';  it  is  claiming  'a  place  in  the 
sun.' 

"Industry  is  like  a  panorama  changing  all  the  time 
even  while  the  actors  are  moving,  and  this  is  what  so 
many  people  overlook.  Some  of  them  have  not  no- 
ticed that  since  their  grandfather  built  the  business  the 
whole  scenery  has  changed  from  the  early- Victorian 


<)S  MANAGEMENT   AM)  MEN 

background  on  which  the  structure  was  originally  built 

U\). 

''Now  I  come  to  my  first  point:  The  mid- Victorian 
owner  of  the  business  negotiated  with  his  men  himself; 
he  knew  them  mostly  by  name  and  lie  knew  the  rami- 
fications of  his  business;  and  what  is  njore  important 
still,  he  did  his  own  work  in  labor  difhculties;  he  did 
not  leave  it  to  the  foreman.  Almost  without  exception 
British  concerns  leave  the  foreman  to  do  the  impos- 
sible work.  The  boss  gives  away  tlie  concessions  and 
when  he  has  not  anything  to  concede  the  foreman  is 
deputed  to  tell  them  so,  consequently  the  foreman's 
popularity  is  not  at  all  good. 

"During  the  war  munition  tribunals  were  set  up  in 
each  town.  We  proposed  to  our  men  that  they  should 
be  their  own  tribunal.  Later  we  decided  to  go  still 
farther  and  suggested  choosing  a  chairman  of  their 
own,  to  handle  the  decisions  of  this  body  on  workmen 
who  by  misdemeanor  had  brought  themselves  under  the 
Munitions  of  War  Act  and  should  rightly  have  gone 
down  to  the  government  tribunal.  All  fines  were  given 
to  charitable  funds.  No  one  was  bound  to  come  to  our 
tribunal  unless  he  liked,  but  could  go  to  the  one  in  the 
town;  and  a  Gilbertian  situation  was  created  by  the 
central  tribunal's  asking  us  what  sentence  we  had  given 
for  a  particular  offense,  so  that  they  could  give  the 
same." 

Industry  is  at  bottom  a  problem  in  man  power. 
That  problem  is  big  enough  to  call  for  every  ounce  of 
intelligence  and  force  latent  and  active  not  only  in  the 
managing  staff  but  in  the  anonj'mous  rank  and  file. 
How  to  pool  for  the  good  of  industry,  and  of  those  who 


SIDELIGHTS  ON  INDUSTRY  99 

work  in  it,  all  that  scattered,  sometimes  discordant, 
and  generally  too  little  used  human  power  is  the  big 
problem  before  those  who  are  looking  ahead. 

British  industry  stands  to  gain  a  new  vitality  and 
promise  so  far  as  it  bases  its  scheme  of  management 
on  a  respect  for  what  the  everyday  worker  has  it  in 
him  to  contribute.  A  new  foremanship  is  coming  into 
play.  Managers  and  men  are  learning  to  speak  a  com- 
mon language  and  to  think  in  terms  of  purposes  that 
neither  can  misuse  without  general  injury. 


CHAPTER  IV 

CONTROL   OF   THE    JOB 

WHAT  will  British  industry  look  like,  now  that 
the  war  is  over?  Does  the  war  mean  a  slump 
in  British  initiative?"  You  hear  questions  like  this 
wherever  you  go,  and  wherever  British  business  men 
or  manufacturers  foregather.  What  they  have  in 
mind  is  not  the  volume  of  their  future  trade. 

Trade  will  no  doubt  be  good,  given  the  tonnage. 
American  competition  is  something  to  think  about,  but 
it  is  n't  that  which  gives  much  concern  just  at  present. 

Reconstruction  is  what  men  are  thinking  of,  and  by 
this  they  mean  the  kind  of  team  play  and  sense  of  com- 
mon interest  that  may  or  may  not  obtain  in  the  relation 
of  employer  and  employed,  and  in  the  task  of  restoring 
the  economic  life  of  the  nation  to  a  sound  peace  foot- 
ing. Industrial  jDolicy  is  the  topic  of  chief  interest. 
An  early  understanding  of  what  it  is  to  be  is  urgently 
sought.  Whatever  else  may  be  put  off,  an  agreement 
on  this  question  and  policy  cannot. 

And  it  is  not  to  Parliament  or  any  other  public  body 
that  men  are  looking  for  a  solution.  The  answer,  all 
agree,  lies  with  industry  itself,  with  each  trade  and 
business  embraced  under  this  general  head.  In  the 
hands  of  the  men  who  carry  on  the  industrial  life  of  the 
country — owners,  managers  and  the  rank  and  file — 
rests  the  fate  finally  of  any  industrial  policy  adopted. 
If  they  reach  a  working  basis  for  the  forwarding  of 

100 


CONTROL  OF  THE  JOB  101 

their  common  business,  with  due  regard  for  interests 
other  than  their  own,  all  will  be  well.  If  they  do  not, 
reconstruction  will  halt  and  stagger,  and  well-being, 
prosperity,  opportunity — call  it  what  you  please — will 
take  wing. 

In  these  circumstances  the  wrecker  alone  has  his 
innings;  his  ax  is  ready  to  hand.  There  is  no  occa- 
sion for  any  panic  of  course.  For  all  the  strain  of 
four  years'  nightmare  neither  workmen  nor  managers 
show  any  signs  of  having  lost  their  heads.  Quite  the 
other  way;  they  are  amazingly  sound  in  their  head- 
work,  and  their  zeal  is  far  from  winded. 

The  spirit  and  the  unshaken  common  sense  of  the 
nation  were  expressed  exactly  the  other  day  by  the 
Minister  of  Labor,  who  in  a  talk  on  this  very  topic  of 
new  industrial  policy  told  a  group  of  manufacturers 
and  labor  representatives : 

''It  is  your  duty  to  see  to  it  that  we  go  about  this 
business  in  a  sane  and  British  way.  Our  people  are 
not  easily  lured  away  by  the  fanaticism  whose  dreary 
and  blood-stained  doings  have  so  often  led  simple  men 
to  disaster  and  disillusionment,  as  in  the  case  of  un- 
happy Russia.  We  must  find  something  firm — to  guide 
us  against  corrupting  doctrines.  Our  new  problems 
are  much  more  intricate  and  difficult  than  were  those 
we  had  to  face  during  the  war.  No  state  department 
can  do  things  so  well  as  those  who  are  engaged  in  a 
particular  trade  can  do  for  themselves.  I  am  sup- 
posed to  be  a  bureaucrat,  being  a  minister  of  the 
Crown.  I  realize  the  limitations  of  office.  Greater 
efficiency  lies  with  those  employers  and  employed  who 
work  out  together  the  problems  of  their  common  busi- 
ness.    There  must  be  good,  all-round  organization  in 


102  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

every  trade.  We  need  a  representative  industrial 
council  in  every  business,  which  can  speak  with  an  au- 
thoritative voice  for  the  whole  industry.  The  govern- 
ment will  refer  to  such  councils  for  the  purpose  of 
guidance. 

"The  keystone  of  our  country's  industrial  future  is 
in  the  getting  together  of  employer  and  employee. 
For  the  period  we  have  ahead  we  need  the  most  active 
and  the  closest  cooperation  between  them.  We  have 
recommended  to  both  sides  the  scheme  of  the  Whitley 
report,  which  scheme  is  now  in  successful  operation  in 
a  number  of  industries.  We  do  not  ask  you  to  swallow 
this  plan  or  use  it  if  you  have  something  as  good  or 
better  which  does  the  work  in  your  own  particular 
trade.  Only  we  point  out  the  need  of  some  such  basic 
principle  and  organization  for  every  industry;  a  body 
which  can  speak  for  it  in  a  representative  way.  Such 
a  plan  is  typically  British.  It  does  not  make  for  revo- 
lution. Ready-made  Utopia  is  the  will-o'-the-wisp 
which  has  lured  men  in  all  ages.  We  possess  intelli- 
gence enough  to  distinguish  what  is  possible  and  prac- 
ticable from  the  glamour  of  magic  vistas." 

So  industrial  Britain  is  going  in  for  a  tryout,  a  fair 
experimenting  with  the  suggestions  and  the  proposals 
outlined  in  the  famous  Whitley  reports.^  The  cam- 
paign has  been  sufficiently  promising  to  wring  this  ac- 
knowledgment from  the  "Munchner  Neueste  Nachrich- 
ten:"  "The  attempts- made  by  the  English  to  reform 
industry  deserve  consideration  by  us  also,  since  in  the 
great  struggle  after  the  war  that  nation  will  certainly 
come  off  best  which  carries  over  unimpaired  from  the 

1  See  page  297.     Industrial  Reports  Xo.  1,  2  and  3. 


CONTROL  OF  THE  JOB  103 

war  period  into  peace  the  ideal  of  work  for  the  common 
good,  and  which  takes  due  account,  not  only  in  politics 
but  in  the  organization  of  industry,  of  the  self-con- 
sciousness of  the  people  which  has  grown  so  immensely 
during  the  war.  Without  losing  sight  of  our  own  spe- 
cial circumstances  we  have  every  reason  to  follow  with 
the  greatest  attention  the  development  of  the  situation 
in  England." 

''Whitley"  has  become  a  sort  of  slogan  in  the  British 
industrial  world  to-day.  The  Right  Honorable  J.  H. 
Whitley,  deputy  speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons,  is 
a  member  of  a  large  firm  of  Yorkshire  cotton  spinners. 
In  1916  the  Cabinet  Reconstruction  Committee  set  up 
by  Mr.  Asquith  appointed  him  chairman  of  a  special 
committee  charged  with  going  into  the  whole  question 
of  the  future  relations  between  employer  and  employed. 
This  committee  was  made  up  of  twelve  members,  and 
included  trade-union  officials  like  J.  R.  Clynes,  who 
later  became  Food  Controller;  economists  like  J.  A. 
Hobson  and  Prof.  S.  J.  Chapman;  employers  like  Sir 
Grilbert  Claughton,  general  manager  of  the  London  and 
North  Western  Railway;  two  women,  and  other  well- 
known  specialists.  The  appointment  of  this  commit- 
tee was  most  opportune,  and  it  was  obviously  neces- 
sary. Considering  the  industrial  situation  at  the  time, 
the  committee  appeared  if  anything  somewhat  belated. 
For  more  than  two  years  before  the  Whitley  group 
started  its  work  unrest  had  been  rife  and  threatened 
to  spread,  how  far  no  one  could  guess.  Industry  was 
in  a  ferment ;  what  showed  on  the  surface  of  things  was 
only  less  disconcerting  than  what  could  be  surmised 
from  the  undercurrent.  Only  the  declaration  of  war 
averted  the  imminent  total  paralysis  of  the  country's 


104  managemp:nt  and  men 

transportation  system,  with  the  coal  miners  and  the 
building-trades  workmen  ready  to  join  in. 

In  London  the  building  industry  was  completely  tied 
up  by  both  strike  and  lockout.  To  bring  matters  to  a 
head  the  national  body  of  building-trades  employers 
had  decided  on  a  nation-wide  lockout  in  support  of  the 
London  employers.  Only  the  outbreak  of  war  put  a 
stop  to  such  a  suicidal  move.  With  local  civil  wars 
threatening  in  all  directions,  with  irresponsible  groups 
of  men  possessed  of  the  power  to  bring  about  all  sorts 
of  industrial  dislocation  and  inflicting  untold  misery 
ipon  the  public — the  situation  w^as  about  as  bad  as  it 
could  be.  All  through  the  early  stages  of  war  bitter 
passions  were  smoldering;  mutual  distrust  and  ill  will 
agitated  employer  and  employed. 

War  considerations  suppressed  the  news  of  certain 
disquieting  episodes  in  this  home  struggle.  In  the 
Clyde  valley,  for  example,  the  men,  going  over  the 
heads  of  their  constituted  officials,  and  led  by  a  small 
group  of  shop  stewards,  began  a  movement  which  at- 
tained no  little  momentum  before  it  was  headed  off, 
and  which  was  known  as  the  Withdrawal  of  Labor 
Committee.  No  word  of  it  got  abroad.  This  com- 
mittee represented  the  very  negation  of  the  ideas  and 
method  of  collective  bargaining.  It  made  for  anarchy 
in  the  industrial  world,  and  was  naturally  exposed  to 
destruction  by  the  same  method  it  sought  to  use  against 
the  orderly  course  of  negotiation  and  binding  agree- 
ment. 

Obviously  the  war  could  not  be  won  while  such  a 
situation  continued,  nor  could  industry  readily  recover 
even  after  victory  on  the  battlefield,  were  it  ever  so 
glorious.     Recrimination  was  useless ;  both  sides  could 


CONTROL  OF  THE  JOB  105 

play  that  game,  and  did  with  zest.  Nor  could  a  resort 
to  force  avail.  Conflagrations  are  not  quenched  by 
violent  emotions,  nor  are  states  of  mind  corrected  by 
the  bobby's  truncheon.  The  public  at  large  was  clam- 
oring for  a  truce,  if  not  a  healing,  in  this  dark  situation. 
Bales  of  printed  matter  show  how  much  public  interest 
was  agitated,  what  fears  were  felt  for  the  boys  across 
the  Channel.  Letters  to  the  ''Times"  are  the  normal 
safety  valve  in  ordinary  emergencies,  but  at  this  par- 
ticular juncture  that  institution  failed  to  work. 

So  the  Whitley  Committee  set  out  in  troubled  waters 
to  find  a  binding  principle  and  program;  a  program 
which,  whatever  modifications  might  be  imposed  by 
local  conditions,  should  at  least  point  a  way  to  indus- 
trial peace. 

Among  her  other  familiar  abhorrences  Nature  ab- 
hors an  industrial  vacuum.  Laissez  faire  is  impos- 
sible. The  committee  wisely  spent  no  time  on  causes 
of  unrest;  it  was  not  an  investigating  body  set  up  to 
probe  into  the  past ;  it  took  unrest  for  granted  and  pro- 
ceeded to  find  out  what  could  be  done  about  it.  Its 
main  business  was  to  devise  ways  and  means  best 
suited  to  the  exigencies  of  the  time.  Through  thick 
and  thin  the  committee  held  fast  to  this  big  fact :  The 
trouble  was  not  one  altogether  of  wages,  hours  or  con- 
ditions. All  these  had  a  part,  a  very  large  part,  in  the 
temper  of  the  industrial  districts.  But  they  counted 
for  less  than  many  people  supposed.  Adjustments 
may  be  made  to  meet  demands  in  wages,  hours,  and 
the  like ;  frequently  matters  look  as  if  settled  for  good, 
but  soon  the  same  old  discontent  crops  up.  This  has 
been  the  case  in  Great  Britain  throughout  the  war,  and 
I  dare  say  it  is  typical  of  industrial  history  everywhere 


106  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

else.  The  milk  in  the  coconut  is  a  larger  share  in  con- 
trol over  those  matters  which  affect  the  daily  interests 
of  the  workingraan.  Naturally  the  average  employer 
is  unprepared  for  any  such  scrambling  of  his  man- 
agerial eggs,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  aver- 
age worker  has  not  prepared  himself  for  real  service 
in  this  respect. 

But  the  subject  does  not  end  here.  Though  the  mass 
of  England's  industrial  workers  do  not  clamor  for  the 
ousting  of  the  employer,  suppression  of  his  managers 
and  executive  force,  and  the  substitution  of  a  new 
regime  composed  of  the  names  on  his  pay  roll,  the  idea 
of  a  larger  share  in  control  has  taken  root.  And  dur- 
ing these  reconstruction  days  a  vigorous  and  unwearied 
group  of  industrial  crusaders  are  pushing  it  with  mil- 
lennial ardor.  But,  as  I  have  said,  the  general  temper 
is  not  extreme,  the  specter  of  Russian  conditions,  if 
nothing  else,  serving  as  a  grim  caution  against  flying 
leaps  with  the  industrial  organization. 

The  Whitley  Committee  saw  what  wise  employers 
have  also  seen,  that  there  is  an  instinct  among  the 
workers  which  represents  something  wholesome  in  hu- 
man nature  and  something  beneficial  to  industry  if  a 
way  could  be  found  to  satisfy  it  and  yet  keep  industry 
sound.  The  committee  held  that  the  way  of  promise 
was  in  the  direction  of  building  on  the  idea  of  mutual- 
ity— not  of  the  lion-and-lamb-lying-down-together  busi- 
ness, but  the  idea  of  association  between  equals,  be- 
tween necessary  principals  in  the  industrial  organiza- 
tion. And  with  this  controlling  thought  the  committee 
proceeded. 

The  Whitley  Committee  was  appointed  ''to  make 
and  consider  suggestions  for  securing  a  permanent 


CONTROL  OF  THE  JOB  107 

improvement  in  the  relations  between  employers  and 
workmen;  to  recommend  means  for  securing  that  in- 
dustrial conditions  affecting  the  relations  between  em- 
ployers and  workmen  shall  be  systematically  reviewed 
by  those  concerned,  with  a  view  to  improving  condi- 
tions in  the  future." 

In  March,  1917,  the  committee  reported,  recommend- 
ing the  establishment  in  all  well-organized  trades  of 
joint  standing  industrial  councils,  representative  of 
employers  and  employed;  and  in  July  of  that  year  a 
letter  was  addressed  by  the  Minister  of  Labor  to  all 
the  principal  employers'  associations  and  trades 
unions,  asking  for  their  views.  By  October,  1917,  so 
many  favorable  replies  had  been  received  that  the  War 
Cabinet  decided  to  adopt  the  report  as  part  of  its  re- 
construction policy  and  instructed  the  Ministry  of  La- 
bor to  assist  in  the  formation  of  joint  industrial  coun- 
cils. In  October,  1917,  a  second  report  on  joint  stand- 
ing industrial  councils  was  presented,  further  elaborat- 
ing the  scheme. 

At  the  present  time  joint  industrial  councils  have 
been  established  in  the  baking,  bedstead,  bobbins, 
building,  chemical,  china  clay,  furniture,  gold  and  sil- 
ver, hosiery,  leather  goods,  matches,  paint  and  varnish, 
pottery,  rubber,  silk,  vehicle  and  building  trades.  Ne- 
gotiations are  going  on  in  the  surgical  instruments, 
waterworks,  woolen  and  worsted  and  other  trades. 

The  machinery  suggested  by  the  Whitley  reports  is 
based  on  the  principle  of  local  option.  The  committee 
recommend  that  in  addition  to  the  national  councils 
representing  the  whole  industry  there  should  be  cre- 
ated joint  district  councils  and  works  committees,  sub- 
sidiary to  the  national  councils.     The  district  councils 


108  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

would  deal  with  questions  having  a  local  character;  the 
works  committee  would  deal  with  all  questions  domes- 
tic to  a  particular  plant. 

It  is  a  feature  of  the  scheme  that  the  constitution  of 
the  national  and  district  councils,  of  the  works  com- 
mittee, and  of  all  subcommittees  of  any  of  these  bodies, 
shall  be  based  upon  the  principle  of  equal  representa- 
tion of  employers  and  employed.  A  typical  council 
will  thus  consist  of  an  equal  number  of  representatives 
appointed  by  the  employers'  associations  and  the 
trades  unions,  the  chairman  as  a  rule  being  chosen  al- 
ternately from  among  the  employers  and  the  workers. 
The  exact  lines  on  which  works  committees  are  formed 
vary  according  to  the  conditions  of  the  several  indus- 
tries, but  in  each  case  the  lines  adopted  are  the  result 
of  agreement  between  the  employers  and  the  men. 

Whatever  methods  of  representation  and  voting  are 
adopted  special  consideration  is  given  to  the  position 
of  foremen  and  others  in  similar  posts.  These  men 
are  sometimes  members  of  the  unions  and  sometimes 
not.  In  some  cases  they  have  their  own  unions.  Their 
functions  are  partly  those  specially  belonging  to  man- 
agement, partly  those  of  labor.  Their  position  is  one 
of  great  importance  and  they  may  become  either  a 
great  aid  or  a  serious  obstacle  to  progress.  The  steps 
taken  to  insure  their  representation  vary  in  each  in- 
dustry, but  the  committee  lays  emphasis  on  their  place 
in  any  successful  operation  of  the  plan. 

The  Ministry  of  Labor  supplies  any  national  council 
with  a  representative  appointed  to  act  as  a  liaison  of- 
ficer between  the  council  and  the  various  government 
departments.  The  acceptance  of  such  assistance  is 
purely  voluntary,  and  a  nominee  of  the  ministry  is  ap- 


CONTROL  OF  THE  JOB  109 

pointed  only  at  the  request  of  a  council.  A  majority 
of  the  councils  have,  however,  made  this  request. 

As  to  the  scope  of  the  councils  the  Ministry  of  Labor 
has  made  the  following  suggestions : 

Means  to  secure  the  largest  possible  measure  of  joint 
action  between  employers  and  workpeople  for  the  de- 
velopment of  the  industry  as  a  part  of  national  life 
and  for  the  improvement  of  the  conditions  of  all  en- 
gaged in  the  industry. 

Regular  consideration  of  wages,  hours  and  working 
conditions  in  the  industry  as  a  whole. 

The  consideration  of  measures  for  regularizing  pro- 
duction and  employment. 

The  consideration  of  the  existing  machinery  for  the 
settlement  of  differences  between  different  parties  and 
sections  in  the  industry,  and  the  establishment  of  ma- 
chinery for  this  purpose  where  it  does  not  already  ex- 
ist, with  the  object  of  securing  the  speedy  settlement 
of  difficulties. 

The  collection  of  statistics  and  information  on  mat- 
ters appertaining  to  the  industry. 

The  encouragement  of  the  study  of  processes  and 
design  and  of  research,  with  a  view  to  perfecting  the 
products  of  the  industry. 

The  provision  of  facilities  for  the  full  consideration 
and  utilization  of  inventions  and  any  improvement  in 
machinery  or  method,  and  for  the  adequate  safeguard- 
ing of  the  rights  of  the  designers  of  such  improve- 
ments, and  to  secure  that  such  improvement  in  method 
or  invention  shall  give  to  each  party  an  equitable  share 
of  the  benefits,  financially  or  otherwise,  arising  there- 
from. 

Inquiries  into  special  problems  of  the  industry,  in- 


110  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

eluding  the  comparative  study  of  the  organization  and 
methods  of  tlie  industry  in  this  and  other  countries, 
and,  where  desirable,  the  publication  of  reports. 

The  improvement  of  the  health  conditions  obtaining 
in  the  industry,  and  the  provision  of  special  treatment 
where  necessary  for  workers  in  the  industry. 

The  supervision  of,  entry  into  and  training  for  the 
industry,  and  cooperation  with  educational  authorities 
in  arranging  education  in  all  its  branches  for  the  in- 
dustry. 

The  issue  to  the  press  of  authoritative  statements 
upon  matters  affecting  the  industry  of  general  interest 
to  the  community. 

Representation  of  the  needs  and  opinions  of  the  in- 
dustry to  the  government,  government  departments 
and  other  authorities. 

The  following  objects  have  also  been  included  in 
some  of  the  council  constitutions : 

The  consideration  of  measures  for  securing  the  in- 
clusion of  all  employers  and  workpeople  in  their  re- 
spective associations. 

The  arrangement  of  lectures  and  the  holding  of  con- 
ferences on  subjects  of  general  interest  to  the  industry. 

Cooperation  with  the  joint  industrial  councils  for 
other  industries  to  deal  with  matters  of  common  in- 
terest. 

Demobilization  and  resettlement,  the  training  of  dis- 
abled soldiers  and  sailors,  the  position  of  returning 
apprentices,  the  priority  of  release  of  "pivotal"  men 
from  the  army  and  na^y,  education,  and  the  rationing 
of  raw  materials,  are  among  the  subjects  that  have  al- 
ready been  taken  up  by  councils  formed  under  the 
scheme. 


CONTROL  OF  THE  JOB  111 

Now  in  this  scheme  of  industrial  organization  there 
are  three  points  that  seem  to  call  for  special  emphasis : 

In  the  first  place,  the  scheme  goes  a  long  way  to- 
ward securing  industrial  autonomy.  Though  the  de- 
cisions of  a  national  industrial  council  have  no  statu- 
tory force  they  do  represent  the  considered  opinion  of 
the  employers  and  the  men,  and  in  practice  they  are 
binding  on  the  industry  as  a  whole. 

In  the  second  place,  the  machinery  is  decentralized 
and  elastic.  The  provision  for  district  councils  and 
works  committees  is  of  importance,  for  it  insures  the 
direct  discussion  and  settlement  of  local  questions  by 
those  whom  they  immediately  concern.  It  is  clear  that 
the  possibilities  of  development  are  very  wide.  Here 
is  a  simple  and  elastic  machinery  by  which  all  the 
parties  to  any  industry  can  be  brought  together  for 
cooperation.  New  methods  of  organization  can  be 
tested  by  experiment,  and  adopted  or  rejected  accord- 
ing to  the  teaching  of  experience;  and  in  the  meantime 
the  ordinary  work  of  the  councils  and  committees  cre- 
ates an  atmosphere  of  broader  sympathies  and  under- 
standing in  which  the  discussion  of  new  issues  can  be 
carried  on  with  a  better  prospect  of  general  agreement. 

In  the  third  place — and  this  is  the  most  important 
point  of  all — the  object  of  the  councils  is  not  merely  to 
settle  or  even  to  avert  disputes,  but,  as  I  have  pointed 
out,  to  secure  cooperation  in  the  improvement  of  in- 
dustry; and  this  idea  is  nowhere  better  expressed  than 
in  the  work  of  the  Builders'  National  Industrial  Par- 
liament, which  was  in  process  of  formation  at  the  time 
the  first  Whitley  report  appeared. 

Though  the  decision  of  the  Ministry  of  Labor  to  treat 
councils  as  the  channel  of  communication  adds  greatly 


112  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

to  their  value  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  lay  too  mucli 
emphasis  on  this  official  relationship.  The  great  ad- 
vantage of  the  plan  is  the  opportunity  for  industry  to 
work  out  its  own  salvation  in  the  light  of  its  own  spe- 
cial knowledge. 

The  principal  report  of  the  Whitley  Committee,  pub- 
lished in  March,  1917,  was  unanimous,  and  its  recom- 
mendations have  gained  universal  recognition  as  a  wise 
and  practical  compromise  between  the  views  of  the 
conservative  employer,  who  regards  all  trades-union 
activities  with  suspicion,  and  the  revolutionist,  who 
aims  at  destroying  the  existing  industrial  structure 
altogether. 

The  main  proposal  of  the  "Whitley  Committee — the 
establishment  in  every  industry  of  a  jjermanent  joint 
council  of  employers  and  employed — looks  on  the  face 
of  it  obvious  enough.  In  point  of  fact,  the  acceptance 
of  that  principle  was  a  revolution  in  itself,  for  it  meant 
the  recognition  of  a  community  as  the  basic  fact  in  the 
industrial  world  rather  than  an  antagonism  of  inter- 
est between  employers  and  employed.  Always  the  de- 
velopment of  industrial  organization,  both  on  the  men's 
and  on  the  employers'  side,  has  proceeded  entirely 
along  separate  lines.  The  employers'  associations  and 
men's  unions  have  in  fact  acted  as  a  continual  chal- 
lenge to  one  another,  each  trying  to  consolidate  its  o\\ti 
position  in  order  to  have  power  to  drive  a  hard  bar- 
gain with  the  other.  The  master  stroke  of  the  Whit- 
ley Committee  was  to  take  the  two  organizations  as 
they  stood  and,  far  from  trying  to  weaken  the  influ- 
ence of  either,  try  to  make  each  as  comprehensive  as 
possible,  in  order  that  by  acting  together  instead  of 
in  opposition  they  might  be  able  to  legislate  effec- 


CONTROL  OF  THE  JOB  113 

tively  for  all  the  interests  comprised  in  tlie  industry. 

The  Whitley  Committee  made  one  bold  decision  at 
the  outset :  It  resolved  not  to  trouble  its  head  in  the 
first  instance  about  methods  for  settling  industrial  dis- 
putes. The  secret  of  half  the  disputes  that  arise  lies 
in  the  fact  that  both  sides  approach  each  other  as 
natural  antagonists  and  never  get  into  serious  nego- 
tiations at  all  till  feelings  on  each  side  are  already 
exacerbated  by  the  signs  of  a  coming  collision.  Get  the 
men  and  managers  to  cooperate  as  a  regular  practice 
in  fair  weather,  said  the  Whitley  Committee,  and  in 
foul  weather  they  will  find  their  own  way  of  averting  a 
dispute  before  it  becomes  dangerous.  Following  that 
principle  the  committee  stuck  to  positive  proposals. 
Every  trade,  it  said,  ought  to  have  at  the  center  a  na- 
tional joint  council,  bringing  together  the  men's  unions 
on  the  one  hand  and  the  employers'  associations  on  the 
other.  That  joint  machinery  ought  to  be  reproduced 
locally  in  the  form  of  district  councils  and  works  com- 
mittees, each  composed  of  equal  numbers  of  employers 
and  employed,  with  or  without  an  independent  chair- 
man. 

The  kind  of  question  a  joint  council  deals  with, 
either  directly  or  through  its  local  councils  and  com- 
mittees, includes  the  better  utilization  of  the  workers' 
knowledge  and  experience ;  the  means  of  increasing  the 
control  of  the  workers  over  conditions  in  industry ;  the 
settlement  of  the  general  principles  of  employment, 
such  as  the  basis  of  time  and  piece  rates  and  their  re- 
lation to  one  another;  industrial  training;  methods  of 
negotiation  on  points  of  difference  between  employer 
and  employed ;  industrial  research  and  the  application 
of  its  results;  the  use,  development  and  protection  of 


114.  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

inventions  and  iniprovoments  devised  by  workers;  gen- 
eral cooperation  in  increasing  the  efficiency  of  the  in- 
dustry; and  the  promotion  of  or  declaration  of  a  com- 
mon opinion  on  legislation  affecting  the  industry. 

On  that  foundation  Wliitley  councils  in  more  than 
twenty  different  industries  have  been  formed.  The 
experiment  so  far  has  fully  justified  itself,  but  the  time 
for  judging  it  in  earnest  is  not  yet.  War  conditions  of 
industry  have  been  entirely  abnormal.  The  national 
crisis  was  bound  in  any  event  to  work  powerfully  for 
cooperation  between  employers  and  employed,  and  the 
influences  operating  against  industrial  disputes  have 
been  strong.  The  real  test  of  the  Whitley  scheme  will 
come  in  the  next  two  or  three  years,  when  reconstructed 
industry  settles  dowi;  once  more  into  fixed  grooves. 

If  the  new  cooperation  can  survive  the  pains  of  re- 
construction and  stand  its  ground  under  the  new  in- 
dustrial conditions,  its  permanence  as  part  of  the  es- 
tablished mechanism  of  industry  should  be  assured. 
There  is  every  prospect,  indeed,  that  it  will  extend  and 
develop  into  something  more,  for  if  the  workers'  de- 
mands for  a  larger  control  over  industry  are  to  be  sat- 
isfied the  Whitley  councils  provide  the  most  obvious 
means  of  satisfying  them  constitutionally. 

Before  considering  that,  however,  it  is  w^orth  while 
examining  the  achievements  of  a  Whitley  council  in 
actual  working.  One  of  the  earliest  councils  to  be 
formed  w^as  that  in  the  painting  and  decorating  trade. 
The  national  joint  council  w^as  intended  to  meet  four 
times  a  year,  but  it  w^as  found  that  at  least  twice  as 
many  sessions  were  required  to  deal  "vvith  the  business. 
Its  purpose,  according  to  its.  official  statement,  was 


CONTROL  OF  THE  JOB  115 

'Ho  promote  the  continuous  and  progressive  improve- 
ment of  the  industry,  to  realize  its  organic  unity  as  a 
great  national  service,  and  to  advance  the  well-being 
and  status  of  all  connected  with  it." 

The  council  does  not  profess  to  concern  itself  pri- 
marily with  the  settlement  of  industrial  disputes,  but 
its  aid  and  advice  are,  in  point  of  fact,  constantly 
sought  in  local  controversies.  Its  chief  business  has 
been  the  equalization  of  real  wages  throughout  the 
country,  the  prevention  of  unemployment  by  the  better 
organization  of  the  industry,  arrangement  for  the  em- 
ployment of  disabled  soldiers  and  sailors  on  such  terms 
that  their  pensions  shall  not  be  allowed  to  depress  the 
wage  standard,  the  promotion  of  technical  training 
and  research,  the  conditions  of  apprenticeship  and  the 
pooling  of  schemes  for  the  better  conduct  of  the  in- 
dustry. 

The  wage  question  has  been  taken  in  hand  in  earnest, 
and  rates  have  been  revised  in  different  districts — al- 
ways with  an  upward  tendency — with  a  view  to  estab- 
lishing a  national  system  of  rates  which  will  insure 
that  men  doing  the  same  work  in  different  parts  of  the 
country  get  a  wage  which,  taking  into  account  the  va- 
riations in  the  cost  of  living  in  different  districts, 
represents  the  same  value. 

At  the  same  time  the  joint  action  of  employers  and 
men  has  proved  singularly  effective  in  bringing  pres- 
sure to  bear  on  any  employers  or  operatives  who  had 
thoughts  of  staying  outside  the  scheme  for  their  own 
advantage.  A  case  occurred  in  the  early  days  of  the 
painters'  and  decorators'  joint  council,  in  which  cer- 
tain employees  were  called  out  on  strike  by  their  trades 


116  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

union  because  their  employer  had  stood  out  of  the  em- 
ployers' organization.  After  contesting  tlie  matter 
for  a  month  he  swung  permanently  into  line. 

In  other  industries  work  at  least  as  useful  has  been 
accomplished.  The  building-trades  industrial  council 
has  opened  a  special  employment  exchange  in  London, 
managed  by  a  joint  committee.  The  chemical  indus- 
trial council  appoints  each  month  a  mobile  conciliation 
committee,  consisting  of  six  of  its  own  members,  who 
undertake  to  be  ready  to  go  at  a  moment's  notice  to 
any  part  of  the  country  to  advise  on  the  settlement  of  a 
dispute.  The  joint  council  for  the  china-clay  industry 
is  occupying  itself  with  questions  of  education,  re- 
search and  statistics,  and  the  health  and  welfare  of  the 
workers.  The  furniture-trade  council  has  a  commit- 
tee for  rationing  raw  material  for  the  industry.  In 
the  woolen  worsted  trade  a  council  following  substan- 
tially, though  not  identically,  the  lines  of  the  "Whitley 
Council  has  been  formed  to  regulate  the  trade  during 
the  transition  after-war  period,  from  the  rationing  of 
the  raw  material  to  the  distribution  of  the  finished 
product.  In  the  shipyards  the  joint  council  has  con- 
cerned itself  particularly  with  the  reduction  of  lost 
time  and  hindrances  to  output  generally. 

Let  us  look  into  the  workings  of  one  or  two  of  these 
councils — the  well-known  industrial  council  for  the 
building  industry — the  Building  Trades  Parliament, 
as  many  call  it — and  the  national  council  of  the  pottery 
industry. 

The  story  of  the  Building  Trades  Parliament  can 
best  be  told  in  the  words  of  one  of  its  organizers  and 
leaders : 

*'As  a  manager  and  director  in  several  enterprises 


CONTROL  OF  THE  JOB  117 

I  have  touched  the  industrial  problem  first  hand.  I 
became  involved,  much  against  my  will,  in  the  London 
building  troubles  of  1914.  On  the  heels  of  the  strike 
came  the  war,  which  was  a  wonderful  demonstration 
of  the  whole  people's  unity.  This  gave  me  a  lead.  I 
began  to  realize  that  the  old  industrial  idea  of  coercion, 
antagonism  and  resistance  ignored  some  of  the  most 
powerful  forces  that  actuated  men.  Thinking  work- 
men said  that  the  normal  condition  of  industry  is  one 
of  suppressed  war.  One  employers'  association  issued 
a  public  statement  calling  for  defense  against  labor  ag- 
gression. 

''What  is  the  result  of  such  a  condition?  Two 
groups  meet  as  hostile  bodies,  a  tug  of  war  follows, 
and  instead  of  constructive  work  we  have  sterile  con- 
troversy and  waste.  Now  industry  needs  no  truce  but 
courage  to  take  forward  steps,  supported  by  the  con- 
structive genius  of  both  sides  in  common  council.  I 
felt  that  labor  should  take  the  first  step. 

"Being  no  longer  an  employer  at  the  time,  I  wrote 
to  the  organization  of  carpenters  and  joiners,  my  for- 
mer antagonists,  suggesting  that  they  invite  the  em- 
ployers' federation  to  join  with  them  in  setting  up  an 
industrial  parliament,  representing  management  and 
labor  in  equal  numbers.  My  idea  was  not  to  super- 
sede any  existing  association  or  to  provide  a  new  means 
to  settle  disputes.  I  wished  to  see  all  the  parties  mo- 
bilize for  genuine  service  to  the  industry. 

"Our  wage  schedule  throughout  the  country,  in  over 
one  hundred  towns  in  England  and  Wales  alone,  was 
in  a  state  of  chaos,  giving  no  end  of  trouble.  By 
standardizing  this  schedule  we  should  do  away  with  a 
large  part  of  the  friction  and  with  unfair  competition. 


118  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Prevailing  methods  caused  needless  unemplojTnent, 
and  cooperation  would  help  reduce  this  evil.  By  com- 
mon effort  we  could  provide  for  the  employment  of 
partially  disabled  soldiers,  which  is  an  obligation  on 
every  industry,  but  there  are  difficulties  connected  with 
it  which  can  best  be  settled  in  conference. 

**  There  were  questions  as  to  the  employment  of 
women,  trade  training,  overtime  pay,  traveling  and 
lodging  allowances,  and  discharge — all  of  which  are 
matters  best  disposed  of  through  a  conference  board 
which  after  discussion  would  work  for  standardized 
practice. 

'*Well,  the  upshot  of  it  all  was  a  unanimous  agree- 
ment to  start  this  work,  and  the  parliament  came  into 
existence  last  August.  In  its  membership  are  thirty- 
two  employers,  sixty-six  building-trades  subcontract- 
ors, and  sixty-six  delegates  from  the  operatives'  trade 
organizations.  Here  we  have  a  new  line  for  industry, 
representing  true  British  tradition  of  justice  and  self- 
government  as  applied  to  industrial  relations.  The 
spectacle  of  organized  management  and  man  power 
uniting  their  energies  on  a  program  of  reconstruction 
and  advance  is  unique.  The  building  industry  is  one 
of  the  largest  and  most  important  of  the  staple  trades. 
It  is  time  that  barriers  which  have  held  it  back  give 
way  to  a  real  team  spirit." 

Constitutions  make  dry  reading,  but  in  view  of  the 
foregoing  statement  I  can  venture  a  few  lines  from  the 
book  of  rules  adopted  by  the  parliament  of  the  build- 
ing trades :  ^ 

1  See    pajre    406,    Memorandum    on    Industrial    Self -Government,    the 
Industrial  Council  for  the  Building  Industry. 


CONTROL  OF  THE  JOB  119 

The  name  shall  be  The  Industrial  Council  for  the 
Building  Industry  [Building  Trades  Parliament],  here- 
inafter referred  to  as  the  Council. 

The  Council  is  established  to  secure  the  largest  pos- 
sible measure  of  joint  action  between  employers  and 
workpeople  for  the  development  of  the  industry  as  a 
part  of  national  life,  and  for  the  improvement  of  the 
conditions  of  all  engaged  in  that  industry. 

It  will  be  open  to  the  Council  to  take  any  action  that 
falls  within  the  scope  of  this  general  definition.  More 
specific  objects  will  follow: 

1.  To  recommend  means  for  securing  that  industrial 
conditions  affecting  employers  and  operatives,  or  the 
relations  between  them,  shall  be  systematically  re- 
viewed by  those  concerned,  with  a  view  to  their  im- 
provement. 

2.  To  consider,  discuss  and  formulate  opinion  upon 
any  proposals  which  proffer,  to  those  engaged  in  the 
industry,  the  means  of  attaining  improved  conditions 
and  a  higher  standard  of  life,  and  involve  the  enlist- 
ment of  their  active  and  continuous  cooperation  in  the 
development  of  the  industry,  and  to  make  recommenda- 
tions thereon,  including  such  questions  as  measures 
for — 

Regularizing  production  and  employment. 

The  provision  of  a  graduated  scale  of  minimum  rates 
designed  to  maintain  real  wages  as  nearly  as  possible 
on  a  level  throughout  the  country. 

Minimizing  the  fluctuations  of  trade  by  intelligent 
anticipation  and  the  augmentation  of  demand  in  slack 
periods. 

Scientific  management  and  reduction  of  costs. 

Welfare  methods. 


120  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Closer  association  between  commercial  and  asthctic 
requirements. 

The  inclusion  of  all  employers  and  workpeople  in 
their  respective  associations. 

The  revision  and  improvement  of  existing  machinery 
for  the  settlement  of  differences  between  different  sec- 
tions of  the  industry,  or  for  the  provision  of  such  ma- 
chinery where  nonexistent,  with  the  object  of  securing 
the  speedy  settlement  of  difficulties. 

The  better  utilization  of  the  practical  knowledge  and 
experience  of  those  engaged  in  the  industry. 

Securing  to  the  workpeople  a  greater  share  in  and 
responsibility  for  the  determination  and  observance 
of  the  conditions  under  which  their  work  is  carried  on. 

The  settlement  of  the  general  principles  governing 
the  conditions  of  employment,  including  the  methods 
of  fixing,  paying  and  readjusting  wages,  having  regard 
to  the  need  for  securing  to  all  engaged  in  the  industry 
a  share  in  the  increased  prosperity  of  the  industry. 

Insuring  to  the  workpeople  the  greatest  possible  se- 
curity of  earnings  and  employment. 

Dealing  with  the  many  difficulties  which  arise  with 
regard  to  the  method  and  amount  of  payment  apart 
from  the  fixing  of  general  standard  rates. 

3.  To  collect  and  circulate  statistics  and  information 
on  matters  appertaining  to  the  industry. 

4.  To  promote  research  and  the  study  and  improve- 
ment of  processes,  design,  and  standards  and  methods 
of  workmanship,  with  a  view  of  perfecting  the  products 
of  the  industry. 

5.  To  provide  facilities  for  the  full  consideration 
and  utilization  of  inventions  and  improvements  in  ma- 
chinery or  methods,  and  for  adequately  safeguarding 


CONTROL  OF  THE  JOB  121 

the  rights  of  the  designers  or  inventors  thereof;  and 
to  secure  that  the  benefits,  financial  or  otherwise,  aris- 
ing therefrom,  shall  be  equitably  apportioned  among 
the  designers  or  inventors,  the  proprietors  or  lessees, 
and  the  operators  thereof. 

6.  The  supervision  of  entry  into  and  training  for 
the  industry  and  cooperation  with  the  educational  au- 
thorities in  arranging  education  in  all  its  branches  for 
the  industry. 

7.  The  issue  to  the  press  of  authoritative  statements 
upon  matters  affecting  the  industry  of  general  interest 
to  the  community. 

8.  Representation  of  the  needs  and  opinions  of  the 
industry  to  government  departments  and  local  authori- 
ties. 

9.  The  consideration  of  any  other  matters  that  may 
be  referred  to  it  by  the  government  or  any  government 
department. 

10.  Cooperation  with  the  Joint  Industrial  Councils 
of  other  industries  to  deal  with  problems  of  common 
interest. 

11.  To  provide,  as  far  as  practicable,  that  important 
proposals  affecting  the  industry  shall  be  fully  ven- 
tilated and  discussed  through  the  medium  of  commit- 
tees of  inquiry,  joint  district  boards,  works  commit- 
tees, the  trade  papers,  and  the  general  press ;  in  order 
that  the  opinion  of  members  of  the  industry  and  of  the 
general  public  thereon  may  be  accurately  gaged  be- 
fore definite  decisions  are  taken. 

Unlike  the  building  council  the  furniture  joint  indus- 
trial council,  which  started  in  July,  1918,  has  on  sev- 
eral occasions  been  asked  to  mediate  or  arbitrate  on 
questions  in  dispute  between  operatives  and  employers. 


12«  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

The  council  has  under  consideration  the  establish- 
ment of  a  national  conciliation  board  for  the  trade, 
which,  when  the  district  councils  are  formed,  will  no 
doubt  be  linked  up  with  district  conciliation  boards. 
The  council  has  held  four  meetings  up  to  date,  and  has 
appointed  an  executive  committee,  a  resettlement  com- 
mittee, a  committee  on  conciliation  machinery  and  an 
education  committee. 

A  subcommittee,  consisting  of  the  two  chairmen,  has 
been  appointed  to  organize  district  councils  in  the  dif- 
ferent localities — including  Ireland,  with  a  view  to  get- 
ting the  Irish  employers  and  men  to  cooperate  in  the 
work  of  the  national  council. 

When  all  the  district  councils  are  set  up  it  is  pro- 
posed to  reconstitute  the  national  council  on  a  terri- 
torial basis. 

The  national  council  of  the  pottery  industry  is  now 
an  established  institution,  and  is  another  illustration 
of  good  sense  at  work  on  the  problem  of  promoting 
team  spirit  in  industry.^  As  in  the  case  of  the  build- 
ing trades  the  suggestion  of  the  council  first  came  from 
the  employees.  This  council  is  designed  to  regulate 
wages  and  selling  prices,  to  promote  training  for  the 
industry,  to  improve  health  and  other  conditions,  and 
to  encourage  improved  methods  of  production. 

The  pottery  industry  before  the  war  was  in  an  un- 
satisfactory condition.  Its  returns  pleased  neither 
manufacturer  nor  worker.  The  usual  ill  feeling  pre- 
vailed. Earnings  were  low  and  irregular.  Bad  sani- 
tary conditions  were  common,  with  potter's  asthma  and 
lead  poisoning  ever-present  dangers.  There  was  too 
much  driving,  and  it  was  bitterly  resented.     From  the 

1  See  page  499,  National  Council  of  the  Pottery  Industry. 


CONTROL  OF  THE  JOB  123 

manufacturer's  side  there  was  much  to  complain  of. 
Profits  were  small  in  comparison  with  other  industries. 
With  fifty-eight  processes  there  was  difficulty  in  or- 
ganizing work  on  a  proper  basis.  Unrestricted  com- 
petition, price  cutting  and  wage  cutting  kept  the  in- 
dustry on  a  low  level.  Common  rules  to  correct  these 
conditions  were  a  clear  necessity,  and  to  this  task  the 
council  has  been  giving  its  attention  for  over  a  year. 

The  problems  with  which  the  pottery  council  deals 
are  the  most  important  problems  before  the  industry. 

The  first  is  that  of  wages.  Wage  rates  in  the  pot- 
tery trade  are  in  a  chaotic  condition,  and  neither  unions 
nor  employers'  associations  have  even  the  materials 
for  the  establishment  of  anything  like  uniform  rates 
for  similar  work  throughout  the  industry.  A  statistics 
subcommittee  has  begun  an  investigation  into  the  ac- 
tual rates  and  conditions  of  work  in  each  of  the  sec- 
tions of  the  industry,  and  the  result  of  this  will  show 
how  far  a  systematic  list  is  practicable,  and  what  form 
it  should  take.  Along  with  this  investigation  the  same 
committee  has  been  authorized  to  ask  manufacturers' 
associations  to  supply  it  with  certain  returns  as  to 
average  profits  on  turnover  with  a  view  to  finding  out 
what  are  the  normal  earnings  of  capital  in  the  industry. 

The  wage-and-conditions  subcommittee  has  drafted 
a  scheme  of  works  committee.  The  research  subcom- 
mittee is  in  touch  with  the  national  Department  of 
Scientific  Research  to  secure  the  recognition  of  the 
council's  claim  to  representation  on  the  governing  body 
of  any  research  association  that  may  be  established. 
Meanwhile  the  committee  is  looking  into  conditions  as 
regards  health,  and  so  on,  in  the  workshop,  its  chair- 
man being  the  managing  director  of  one  of  the  most 


124  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

up-to-date  firnia  in  industry.  Another  committee  is 
working  with  the  Design  and  Industries  Association, 
which  has  held  successful  meetings  in  the  district ;  the 
wages-and-conditions  committee  is  also  overhauling  the 
methods  of  apprenticeship,  which,  lil<e  the  wage  sys- 
tem, have  never  been  systematized. 

Though  all  this  activity  cannot  bear  fruit  for  some 
time  the  other  phase  of  the  council's  work — namely,  the 
representation  of  the  needs  of  the  industry  to  the  gov- 
ernment— has  already  proved  important.  Thus,  the 
council  took  steps  at  the  second  meeting  to  bring  the 
needs  of  the  industry  before  the  Controller  of  Ship- 
ping. A  delegation  waited  on  the  Minister  of  Recon- 
struction to  call  his  attention  to  the  difficulty  w^ith  w^hich 
the  china  branch  had  been  faced  by  the  cutting  off  of 
supplies  of  South  America  bone,  and  secured  addi- 
tional supplies  from  home  resources. 

Another  type  of  work  is  represented  by  the  action 
of  the  council  with  regard  to  disabled  sailors  and  sol- 
diers and  the  problems  of  demobilization.  A  joint 
committee,  which  existed  before  the  council  was  formed, 
to  advise  the  local  military-service  tribunal  on  the  se- 
lection of  men  for  retention  in  the  industr}^,  has  be- 
come a  committee  charged  with  the  questions  regarding 
demobilization.  This  committee  is  preparing  a  report 
on  the  openings  for  disabled  sailors  and  soldiers  in  the 
industry,  and  on  the  training  required. 

Unquestionably  the  council  has  been  successful  in 
promoting  what  was  after  all  its  principal  object — 
namely,  the  improvement  of  relations  between  employ- 
ers and  employed.  This  was  sho^^m  at  the  end  of  last 
March,  when  the  general  demand  for  a  greater  in- 
crease in  wages  than  had  ever  been  made  was  nego- 


CONTROL  OF  THE  JOB  135 

tiated  successfully  without  serious  ill  feeling  on  either 
side,  and  without  calling  in  the  assistance  of  an  out- 
side arbitrator,  as  has  usually  been  necessary  in  the 
past. 

As  big  a  feature  of  the  joint-government  movement 
in  British  industry  as  the  councils  are  the  works  com- 
mittees. Such  committees  are  by  no  means  new. 
They  had  been  in  operation  for  years  before  the  war. 
But  in  certain  industries,  notably  in  the  metal  trades, 
the  war  conditions  stimulated  their  growth  to  such  an 
extent,  and  worked  such  changes  in  their  form  and  ac- 
tivities, that  works  committees  to-day  are  in  many 
places  a  characteristic  result  of  wartime  interest  in 
better  industrial  relations. 

The  causes  that  promoted  the  growth  of  a  new  type 
of  works  committee  during  the  war  are  various,  but 
they  may  be  roughly  traced  first  to  the  shop  stewards, 
then  to  the  dilution  of  the  working  force  by  a  large 
number  of  unskilled  workers,  methods  of  pay,  ab- 
senteeism, safeguards  against  overstrain,  and  a  gen- 
eral sentiment  looking  to  a  closer  knitting  up  of  the 
personnel. 

Most  trade  unions  have  official  shop  stewards,  known 
by  various  names  as  shop  delegates,  works  representa- 
tives, yard-committee  .men,  and  the  like.  Their  duties 
are  well  known,  consisting  of  such  matters  as  looking 
after  the  maintenance  of  the  agreement  in  force,  col- 
lection of  union  dues,  and  settlement  of  grievances. 
But  one  effect  of  the  war  has  been  to  enhance  the  po- 
sition and  prestige  of  the  shop  steward.  Unable  to 
strike  because  of  war  stipulations,  among  which  was 
one  making  the  official  who  called  it  liable  to  prosecu- 
tion, the  men  naturally  turned  to  their  shop  steward, 


126  MANAGEMKXT  AND  MEN 

who  held  a  less  conspicuous  place,  lie  was  a  free  man. 
His  power  within  the  shop  and,  indeed,  within  the  plant 
was  as  wide  as  he  chose  to  make  it. 

What  the  public  gonerall}^  fails  to  recognize  in  the 
position  of  the  average  union  leader  is  the  undertow 
always  at  work  to  weaken  his  usefulness.  The  most 
serious  problem  that  leaders  with  organizing  sense 
have  to  face  is  a  strong  tendency  away  from  central 
control  toward  a  larger  measure  of  initiative  locally 
and  within  each  shop.  The  men  are  impatient  of  de- 
lay ;  they  want  to  dispose  of  their  difficulties  by  short 
cuts.  A  functionary  far  aw^ay  in  London,  or  wherever 
headquarters  may  be,  is  not  near  enough  to  the  scene, 
the  men  believe,  to  understand;  and  they  look  with 
suspicion  on  the  so-called  judicial  attitude,  the  state 
of  mind  of  a  man  who  must  balance  one  thing  with  an- 
other. This  is  a  penalty  always  for  big  organization. 
The  men  have  been  chafing  against  the  slowness  and 
remoteness  of  it  all,  and  the  shop  steward  has  been  en- 
couraged to  take  things  in  hand. 

Works  committees,  with  shop  stewards  as  the  mov- 
ing spirit,  have  been  started  all  through  the  trades. 
They  have  attempted  to  regulate  the  flow  of  "di- 
lutees," keeping  careful  check  on  the  men  who  have 
been  brought  in  from  the  outside.  Piecework  rates 
and  pressure  of  increased  output  have  given  these  com- 
mittees and  managers  many  hours  of  agony.  Owing 
to  public  clamor  against  slackness  in  coal  mining,  com- 
mittees were  started  to  watch  the  absentee  records  of 
the  men  and  effect  an  improvement. 

War-work  strain  has  made  it  necessary  to  regard 
the  physical  welfare  of  the  workers.  Long  hours  have 
been  worked;  night  shifts  have  been  added  to   day 


CONTROL  OF  THE  JOB  127 

shifts;  work  places  have  been  overcrowded,  and  such 
facilities  as  were  obtained  were  greatly  overtaxed, 
while  the  introduction  of  women  in  shops  where  none 
were  previously  employed  raised  a  number  of  new 
problems.  No  better  way  of  handling  such  questions 
could  be  found  than  through  committees  of  workers 
most  directly  concerned,  and  the  result  has  been  a 
multiplication  of  such  committees,  with  a  voice  in  the 
conditions  under  which  they  worked. 

An  automobile  plant  located  in  the  north  of  Eng- 
land, and  employing  six  thousand  men  and  about  a 
thousand  women,  has  a  shop  steward  for  each  one  of 
its  forty  departments,  and  the  works  committee  is  made 
up  of  these  stewards.  There  are  no  women  among 
them,  but  a  woman  representative  is  present  when  the 
management  and  the  stewards  take  up  any  question 
that  affects  the  women  employees.  There  are  many 
conferences  between  the  management  and  the  commit- 
tee, but  they  are  not  regular  because  it  has  been  found 
there  is  not  always  business  to  warrant  it.  Much  is 
settled  with  the  foremen  and  never  comes  before  the 
man  higher  up.  The  foremen  have  learned — and  they 
have  been  encouraged  to  learn — how  to  meet  with  the 
committee  and  come  to  an  understanding  with  it.  All 
meetings  are  on  the  employer's  time,  and  the  manage- 
ment has  never  failed  to  carry  out  a  decision  agreed 
to  in  conference. 

The  blast-furnace  workers  in  the  Cleveland  and  Dur- 
ham districts  for  over  a  year  had  in  hand  the  trouble- 
some question  of  time-keeping,  or  attendance,  which  of 
course  is  at  bottom  a  question  of  output.  Through 
works  committees  appointed  by  the  men,  often  joined 
by  committees  from  the  ironmasters'  association,  un- 


128  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

stoady  workers  are  warned,  counseled  or  fined  as  the 
case  may  require.  The  fines  collected  are  turned  over 
to  some  local  fund  or  charity  as  the  men  decide.  Both 
parties  to  this  arrangement  agree  that  it  has  given  sat- 
isfaction. 

Pit  committees  are  found  in  most  of  the  coal-mining 
districts.  Not  all  have  proved  successful,  but  where 
they  have  worked  they  have  justified  their  existence. 
They  are  "responsible  for  dealing  with  questions  of 
workmen  losing  work  or  failing  to  do  their  best." 

Here  is  what  a  workman,  a  practical  miner,  has  to 
say  on  this  subject : 

'*We  have  found  out  that  output,  which  the  Coal 
Controller  has  been  urging  on  us,  is  not  alone  cut  down 
by  absence  from  work;  faulty  management  has  some- 
thing to  do  with  it.  Miners  have  to  wait  for  timber; 
there  are  all  sorts  of  hardships  in  getting  to  our  work 
and  back  home.  We  have  to  wait  for  tubs,  which  are 
few  and  scarce  and  not  passed  round  evenly.  The 
committee  can  fine  the  men,  but  not  the  management 
where  it  falls  short.  But  where  management  has 
played  fair  the  output  of  coal  and  the  wages  of  the 
men  have  increased. 

"We  do  not  have  any  way  of  getting  the  foreman  to 
improve  his  methods,  and  this  spoils  much  of  the  good 
that  might  be  done.  He  does  not  pay  for  dead  work, 
such  as  emptying  dirt  or  packing  it ;  he  should  pay  for 
so  many  tubs.  He  measures  ripping  by  going  to  the 
narrowest  instead  of  the  widest  part  of  the  level;  this 
may  mean  to  the  man  a  difference  of  five  shillings  on 
that  piece  of  work.  Wagons  are  not  sent  round  the 
mines  according  to  any  fair  system. 

"One  large  colliery  has  a  canteen,  and  the  commit- 


CONTROL  OF  THE  JOB  129 

tee  has  given  help  to  manage  it.  Many  men  are  called 
on  to  work  overtime,  and  if  they  cannot  get  food  they 
cannot  be  efficient.  This  colliery  with  the  canteen  sells 
a  good  meal  and  hot  drinks  at  cost  prices.  I  know 
when  the  winter  time  comes  on  and  the  output  of  coal 
depends  on  the  surface  workers  sticking  to  their  work 
this  colliery  has  rest  periods  and  hot  drinks  are  passed 
out.  Elsewhere  the  men  have  to  knock  off  on  account 
of  the  weather." 

Among  the  results  of  placing  a  larger  responsibility 
for  conditions  on  the  men,  or  on  their  chosen  repre- 
sentatives, has  been  a  marked  decrease  in  those  little 
frictions  of  the  shop  which  waste  the  time  of  busy  man- 
agers and  take  longer  to  settle  than  really  important 
questions  of  policy.  The  experience  of  firms  that  have 
not  hesitated  to  put  into  practice  their  belief  in  the 
capacity  of  the  rank  and  file  to  deal  with  matters  that 
had  hitherto  been  entirely  in  the  hands  of  management 
shows  that  a  new  confidence  develops  and  that  new 
ways  suggest  themselves  for  checking  controversies  be- 
fore they  reach  a  serious  stage.  Ideas  are  not  lacking 
if  the  right  atmosphere  prevails,  and  these  ideas  make 
for  order  and  advance.  The  fact  that  so-called  sugges- 
tion or  complaint  boxes  so  generally  fail  in  getting  for 
the  management  a  true  picture  of  what  the  men  have  in 
mind  proves  that  something  is  wanting,  and  that  want 
is  not  in  the  men.  Employees  who  are  told  that  they 
are  paid  to  work  and  not  to  think  are  turned  from 
assets  to  liabilities.  Works  committees  and,  in  fact, 
all  sorts  of  other  committees  which  give  the  men  en- 
couragement to  use  their  heads,  have  succeeded  in 
-clearing  away  countless  little  obstructions  and  mis- 
understandings which  in  the  aggregate  have  the  re- 


130  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

suit  of  putting  up  a  wall  between  those  who,  to  do 
their  work  as  it  should  be  done,  need  above  everything 
contact  and  frank  speech. 

I  was  in  the  yard  of  a  well-known  engine  factory  in 
the  north  of  Elngland  when  one  workman  was  explain- 
ing to  another,  a  newcomer,  something  about  the  con- 
ditions of  that  plant. 

*'Tliis  shop,"  he  said,  ''always  has  one  foot  in  the 
street.  Three  of  the  men  who  went  to  the  boss  with  a 
kick  got  the  sack.  So  we  don't  believe  in  working  be- 
tween meals.  We  want  forty-four  hours,  but  if  we 
hold  on  we  will  do  better  than  that  because  our  dele- 
gate says  he  knows  a  way  to  get  forty  hours." 

Three  miles  away  from  this  place  is  a  factory  which 
takes  pride  in  the  fact  that  it  has  never  had  a  walkout 
or  a  strike  during  the  war.  On  the  wall  in  the  office 
of  the  general  manager  is  a  large  framed  chart  show- 
ing a  fairly  considerable  committee  system.  All  the 
committees  head  up  in  a  shop-steward  works  commit- 
tee. The  management  and  the  committee  keep  min- 
utes of  all  the  meetings.  Conferences  are  system- 
atized and  treated  as  a  serious  part  of  the  executive 
program. 

With  a  reduction  of  war  orders  the  new  plants  built 
for  that  special  purpose  are  shutting  down.  The 
works  committee  has  been  handling,  in  collaboration 
with  the  general  manager,  the  problem  of  discharge  of 
the  new  workers,  especially  the  young  women  who  were 
engaged  for  the  period  of  the  war.  I  was  present 
when  three  hundred  girls  were  being  paid  off,  with  a 
two  weeks'  extra  wage,  and  they  were  coursing  through 
the  shops  making  their  farewells,  the  foremen  shout- 
ing their  good  wishes  to  them  at  the  gates. 


CONTROL  OF  THE  JOB  131 

In  the  words  of  a  man  who  has  watched  the  activities 
of  the  works  committees  and  knows  the  manufacturers 
of  England  and  Scotland : 

*' Wherever  these  works  committees  have  been  a 
success  you  will  find  the  consensus  of  opinion  is — as 
many  a  manufacturer  has  put  it — that  they  have  been 
'the  best  thing  that  has  ever  happened  to  the  place.'  " 

Such  an  opinion  could  not  be  so  general  if  experi- 
ence had  not  demonstrated  the  value  of  the  works-com- 
mittee plan  or  shown  that  it  was  something  more  than 
a  piece  of  machinery  and  different  from  the  old  in- 
struments for  conciliation.  Getting  down  to  rock  bot- 
tom, works  committees  mean  discussion;  and  discus- 
sion takes  time,  as  everybody  knows.  This  is  the  the- 
oretical objection,  which  now  and  again  is  thrown  up. 
But  you  have  only  to  total  the  minutes  and  the  hours 
that  are  wasted  by  the  management  in  plants  that  have 
no  such  committees  or,  if  they  have,  never  put  in  enough 
thought  to  vitalize  them  and  make  them  count  for 
something,  to  discover  that  the  greater  waste  is  under 
the  old  system.  And  there  is  this  in  addition :  What- 
ever is  settled  through  conference  between  manage- 
ment and  committee  has  a  chance  of  staying  settled,  of 
leading  to  something  reasonably  permanent.  And  this 
is  what  the  Whitley  people  had  in  mind. 

Whatever  the  scheme  adopted,  the  essential  thing  is 
that  somewhere  in  it  a  joint  purpose  shall  be  at  work. 
Unless  there  be  an  honest  intention  of  cooperation  be- 
tween the  parties  to  the  industrial  bargain  it  would  be 
far  better  to  let  the  laissez-faire  method  run  its  course. 
The  Whitley  scheme  is  not  a  cast-iron  scheme.  No 
rigid  program  will  work  or  be  of  use  in  all  industries; 
indeed,  it  may  be  useless  even  in  one  if  it  be  inflexible. 


132  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

There  is  notliing  to  be  gained  by  minimizing  the  diffi- 
culties, and  some  of  tbese  difficulties  are  important. 
Be  they  what  they  may  there  is  no  excuse  for  inaction. 
The  cause  is  big  enough  to  call  for  willingness  to  take 
new  ways  to  meet  old  issues.  And  tlie  cooperating 
spirit  is  not  the  worst  guide  for  industry  to  use.^ 

As  has  been  said,  the  Whitley  scheme,  considered 
in  the  large,  has  as  yet  hardly  stood  a  serious  test. 
Two  or  three  of  the  general  councils  are  doing  about 
as  well  as  any  industrial  experiment  thus  far  at- 
tempted. No  one  who  has  watched  their  operation  can 
question  that  they  are  well  worth  while,  and  deserve 
encouragement.  Both  sides  to  the  undertaking  speak 
well  of  it,  and  wish  to  see  at  least  five  years '  trial  be- 
fore passing  any  final  opinion.  Real  experiments 
along  the  line  of  industrial  team  play  are  so  few  and 
far  between  that  one  feels  a  peculiar  interest  in  the 
Whitley  developments;  and  all  the  more  because  the 
underlying  idea  is  to  build  up  on  what  already  exists 
instead  of  taking  out  all  the  complicated  and  delicate 
works  of  the  industrial  machine,  with  the  hope  of  mak- 
ing a  fresh  start. 

Though,  as  stated  above,  more  than  twenty  councils 
are  already  in  being  there  will  soon  be  thirty  and  over. 
Most  of  them  have  been  formed  in  the  past  few  months, 
during  a  period  which  cannot  be  said  to  represent 
normal  conditions.  Therefore  few  of  the  councils  can 
be  expected  to  be  in  full  running  order.  In  the  main, 
approved  by  public  opinion,  at  least  by  that  portion 
of  it  which  takes  any  interest  in  labor  problems  or  is 
alive  to  the  fact  that  these  problems  overshadow  every 

1  See  page  531,  Trade  Parliaments. 


CONTROL  OF  THE  JOB  133 

other  in  importance,  the  Whitley,  and  indeed  every 
other  approach  to  a  solution  of  the  question  of  indus- 
trial relations,  has  its  opposition.  In  the  eyes  of  the 
industrial  revolutionary  the  salient  defect  of  the  trade 
parliament  and  council  is  that  they  again  stereotype 
the  old  relationship  between  employer  and  employed, 
and  it  is  precisely  that  relationship  which  industrial 
revolution  is  out  to  abolish.  But  in  point  of  fact  the 
Whitley  councils  do  not  necessarily  assume  any  such 
going  back  to  pre-war  relationship.  That  they  mili- 
tate against  overnight  industrial  upheaval  is  true. 
That  they  point  the  way  of  reason  and  mutual  under- 
standing as  opposed  to  violence  and  destruction  is  also 
obvious.  But  they  by  no  means  work  against  indus- 
trial evolution.  On  the  contrary,  they  open  up  one  of 
the  very  few  hopeful  w^ays  thus  far  proposed — ways 
which  commend  themselves  to  thinking  men  in  all 
groups  concerned — for  the  next  step  to  be  taken.  If 
larger  share  in  management  is  gradually  to  pass  into 
the  hands  of  the  managed  by  far  the  best  way  for  it  to 
come  about  will  be  an  orderly  transference  of  responsi- 
bility through  such  joint  councils  and  committees  as 
are  set  up  under  the  Whitley  scheme. 

But  in  any  case  the  time  for  complete  transference 
is  not  yet.  Nobody  with  whom  I  have  talked — and  I 
have  the  views  of  men  who  have  given  years  to  the 
advancing  of  labor  interests — washes  to  see  any  whole- 
sale or  precipitate  action.  As  they  see  it,  any  for- 
ward step  taken  must  offer  reasonable  assurance  of 
success,  and  not  result  through  unforeseen  disaster  in 
setting  back  the  progress  the  workers  have  already 
made. 

They  believe  that  no  experiment,  however  roseate 


15J4.  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

its  setting  and  its  promises,  is  sufficiently  valuable  to 
justify  a  jeopardizing  of  labor's  gains  and  position. 
More  tlian  other  men  these  experienced  leaders  in  trade 
organization,  trusted  by  the  masses  whom  they  repre- 
sent, know  the  cost  of  every  forward  step  and  what 
the  price  has  been  to  bring  about  such  advance  as  has 
been  made.  Responsibility  has  made  them  circum- 
spect. The  stake,  they  hold,  is  far  too  precious  for 
any  tampering  by  untried  hands.  These  views,  need- 
less to  say,  though  quite  representative  not  only  of  the 
spokesmen  but  also  of  the  large  mass  of  British  work- 
ers, are  not  shared  by  an  energetic  element  who,  though 
in  the  minority,  are  yet  influential  out  of  all  proportion 
to  their  numbers. 

Here  is  the  real  trouble :  So  far  as  actual  experi- 
ments in  an  entirely  new  order  of  industrial  control  go, 
practically  no  progress  has  been  made.  The  idea  of 
the  union  itself,  or  of  a  group  of  workers  collectively, 
undertaking  definite  contracts  has  been  seriously 
mooted,  and  it  is  an  idea  full  of  interesting  possibili- 
ties. Given  an  adequate  technical  organization  there 
would  seem  to  be  no  reason  why  a  body  of  men  could 
not  in  combination  act  in  a  given  contract  very  much 
as  a  private  contractor  does.  This  combine,  group  or 
union  would  undertake  for  a  given  sum  to  deliver  a 
given  output  or  complete  a  certain  piece  of  work,  hand- 
ling all  those  matters  which  fall  under  the  general  head 
of  employment  and  shop  management. 

The  only  concrete  instance  of  importance  in  which 
the  experiment  has  been  tried  in  England  was  the  erec- 
tion of  the  London  headquarters  of  the  Theosophical 
Society  a  short  time  before  the  war.  At  the  moment 
when  the  work  was  to  be  started  a  serious  building 


CONTROL  OF  THE  JOB  135 

strike  was  on  in  London,  and  the  building  committee  of 
the  society,  sympathetic  with  the  men  and  at  the  same 
time  anxious  to  get  their  building  erected,  negotiated 
a  contract  directly  with  the  men's  union. 

Though  the  experiment  met  with  an  initial  success  it 
was  not  possible  to  give  it  a  fair  test  because  war 
broke  out  before  the  work  got  far. 

Ordinary  building  operations  came  to  a  standstill 
through  government  order,  and  this  particular  struc- 
ture was  taken  over  in  an  unfinished  condition  by  a 
government  department  to  be  completed  and  used  for 
ofificial  purposes. 

Altogether  the  actual  British  advance  toward  an  in- 
creased share  in  the  control  of  the  job  is  slow  and  fitful. 
Here  and  there  beginnings  have  been  made  in  distrib- 
uting the  load  of  management  and  supervision,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  miners  who  during  the  war  made  them- 
selves responsible  for  reducing  lost  time  in  the  pits. 
There  were  other  isolated  but  unimportant  innovations, 
from  which  no  particular  moral  can  be  drawn.  Never- 
theless, there  can  be  no  doubt  that  we  are  on  the  eve 
of  developments  in  the  direction  of  increased  coopera- 
tion in  control.  If  coming  events  have  in  this  case  cast 
singularly  few  shadows  before  them  we  do  have  be- 
fore us  a  certain  amount  of  instructive  war  experience 
with  the  scheme  of  the  Whitley  councils  and  the  works 
committees. 

We  may  be  certain  that  the  principle  of  teamwork 
In  management,  whatever  the  language  in  which  it  finds 
expression,  is  not  a  passing  thing  or  a  fantastic  dream 
of  the  visionary. 

It  is  a  principle  which  has  taken  hold  of  men,  which 
invites  the  best  brains  for  its  incorporation  into  the 


Mi6  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

fabric  of  management,  and  which  if  sanely  and  sin- 
cerely made  the  basis  of  relations  between  employer 
and  employee  holds  out  the  biggest  hope  for  industry. 


CHAPTER  V 

AS   THE    BRITISH   EMPLOYER    SEES   IT 

NOT  many  months  ago  a  group  of  employers  repre- 
senting the  principal  plants  in  one  of  the  most 
noted  and  successful  industries  of  Great  Britain  met 
in  London.  They  came  together  for  the  purpose  of 
drafting  a  set  of  guiding  principles  in  the  management 
of  their  business.  They  aimed  to  put  down  in  black 
and  white  the  terms  of  the  relationship  between  em- 
ployer and  employed.  In  more  ways  than  one  this 
conference  in  London  is  absolutely  unique.  Here  were 
men  employing  thousands.  Conditions  in  their  indus- 
try have  always  been  good.  Some  of  the  men  who  at- 
tended are  known  throughout  the  world  for  the  excel- 
lence of  their  plant  surroundings  and  the  care  with 
which  they  promote  the  physical  well-being  of  their 
operatives. 

This  London  meeting  did  not  lay  down  any  rules 
for  the  employee;  no  grievances  against  the  workers 
were  aired ;  every  minute  of  the  long  sessions  was  taken 
up  with  the  task  of  formulating  propositions  by  which 
the  leaders  of  this  particular  industry  agreed  to  carry 
on  their  labor  policy. 

"We  cannot  afford  to  neglect  the  urgent  needs  and 
the  outstanding  opportunities  that  confront  us  in  our 
factories,"  they  said.  So  they  proceeded  to  draw  up 
a  program  of  their  duties  as  regards  wages,  the  place 
of  the  worker  in  the  management,  security  of  employ- 

137 


138  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

mont,  working  conditions,  disposal  of  the  profits,  and 
social  life. 

In  the  matter  of  wages  the  conclusion  was  that  these 
should  always  be  sufficient  to  enable  a  man  to  marry, 
live  in  a  decent  house,  provide  means  for  upkeep  of  the 
physical  efficiency  of  the  family,  with  a  margin  for  con- 
tingencies and  recreation. 

''The  worker  asks  to-day,"  they  determined,  "for 
more  than  an  improvement  in  his  economic  condition. 
We  admit  the  justice  of  this  claim,  and  we  must  co- 
operate with  him  and  treat  him  as  we  should  wish  to 
be  treated  ourselves.  We  propose  to  create  suitable 
machinery  for  this  purpose;  but  we  believe  that  the 
more  essential  thing  is  a  living  desire  to  give  full  ex- 
pression of  a  belief  in  right  relations.  Experience  on 
shop  or  works  committees  trains  the  members  in  par- 
ticipation. We  shall  promote  the  formation  of  such 
committees." 

As  to  security  of  employment,  it  was  decided  that  it 
is  the  duty  of  employers  to  do  their  utmost  to  abolish 
casual  labor  and  to  make  employment  regular.  The 
business  should  be  carefully  organized  to  remedy 
unemplojmient  evils.  "The  dismissal  of  employees 
should  only  take  place  as  a  last  resort.  Only  men  and 
women  who  can  be  relied  on  to  act  justly  should  be 
given  the  power  of  dismissal.  The  opinion  of  a  works 
council  would  be  helpful." 

The  working  condition  of  a  factory  should  enable 
and  encourage  a  worker  to  be  and  to  do  his  best. 
These  conditions  should  be  administered  under  two 
heads: 

"Personal.  From  the  moment  a  worker  enters  a 
factory  he  should  be  regarded  as  a  part  of  a  living  or- 


AS  THE  BRITISH  EMPLOYER  SEES  IT      139 

ganism,  not  a  mere  dividend-producing  machine,  and 
treated  with  respect  and  courtesy.  There  should  be 
no  nagging  or  bullying  by  those  in  authority,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  insight  and  leadership.  This  involves 
careful  choice  of  overlookers  and  managers,  who 
should  be  able  both  to  lead  and  inspire.  At  present 
such  officers  are  often  selected  solely  on  account  of 
their  technical  knowledge,  and  sometimes  because  they 
possess  the  faculty  of  getting  work  out  of  men  by  driv- 
ing them. 

"But  if  the  managers  and  foremen  are  to  be  men  of 
the  right  type  they  should  have  ample  opportunities 
for  becoming  acquainted  with  our  point  of  view,  and 
also  for  acquiring  a  broad,  sane  outlook  on  human  and 
industrial  relationships.  Such  opportunities  could 
hardly  be  given  in  the  course  of  one  or  two  conferences ; 
but  a  series  of  classes  or  conferences  under  right  lead- 
ership might  be  arranged — some  for  those  already  in 
positions  of  responsibility,  others  for  those  who  desire 
to  fit  themselves  for  such  posts  in  the  future.  Happi- 
ness in  work  should  be  regarded  as  a  definite  aim  and 
•Tsset,  and  the  personal  well-being  of  every  worker 
should  be  an  essential  part  of  the  employer's  objective. 

''Material.  Employers  should  surround  their 
workers  with  a  material  environment  such  as  they 
would  desire  for  themselves  or  for  their  children. 
This  will  mean  that  work-rooms  are  properly  venti- 
lated and  kept  at  suitable  temperatures,  that  they  are 
adequately  lit,  and  that  due  regard  is  paid  to  cleanli- 
ness. Cloakrooms  and  lavatories  should  be  so  kept 
that  employees  coming  from  respectable  homes  may 
find  no  cause  for  complaint.  The  workers  should  be 
safeguarded  against  any  undue  strain  from  the  length 


140  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

of  tho  working  day  or  the  severity  of  labor.  In  de- 
termining systems  of  payment  it  should  never  be  for- 
gotten that  unwise  methods  of  stimulating  workers  to 
do  their  utmost  may  result  in  overstrain.  Facilities 
should  be  given  them  for  spending  the  dinner  hour  un- 
der restful  and  comfortable  conditions,  as  well  as  for 
obtaining  food  at  reasonable  rates.  If  such  facilities 
cannot  be  provided  within  the  factory  they  might  per- 
haps be  arranged  outside.  Again,  in  organizing  the 
work  employers  should  remember  that  confinement  to 
one  monotonous  task,  not  only  month  after  month  but 
year  after  year,  is  apt  to  deaden  the  intellect  and  de- 
press the  vitality  of  the  worker.  If  it  be  urged  that  to 
carry  out  the  above  suggestions  would  often  involve  too 
great  an  expenditure  we  reply  that  inefTiciency  and  low 
productivity  in  the  workers  are  frequently  due  to  the 
absence  of  suitable  working  conditions. 

"Conclusions.  Pioneers  and  pathfinders  and  the 
makers  of  roads  are  needed  just  as  urgently  in  the  in- 
dustrial sphere  as  in  the  opening  up  of  new  tracts  of 
fertile  country.  But  we  believe  that  if  the  longing  for 
a  better  order  once  grips  the  employing  classes  such 
pioneers  will  not  be  lacking." 

Touching  by  reason  of  their  work  and  wide  interests 
all  phases  of  British  industry  and  its  problems,  the 
personal  statements  by  big  business  and  industrial 
leaders  here  will  give  a  fair  picture  of  what  may  be 
called  the  nonlabor  viewpoint  on  present  industrial 
conditions.  The  labor  viewpoint  in  its  relation  to 
events  impending  in  the  new  Parliament  just  elected, 
and  to  events  on  the  Continent — particularly  in  that 
industrial  Vesuvius  which  once  was  Russia — will  be  the 
subject  of  the  next  and  concluding  chapter. 


AS  THE  BRITISH  EMPLOYER  SEES  IT      141 

A  man  who  has  done  business  with  the  leading  man- 
ufacturers in  and  round  London  as  a  technical  consult- 
ant for  years  said: 

''Just  now  our  country  is  divided  into  two  nations, 
with  no  league  as  yet  for  enforcing  peace  between 
them.  I  refer  to  capital  and  labor,  managing  and 
managed.  It  is  a  rough  division,  of  course,  but  well 
understood.  Normally  trouble  between  the  two  is 
smoldering;  given  fuel  it  breaks  into  flame.  It  has 
become  the  business  of  a  number  of  embittered  men, 
not  all  dishonest  or  unintelligent — besides,  such  things 
don 't  matter  much,  anj^^ay,  when  trouble  is  on — to  fan 
this  flame  into  conflagration.  What  seems  to  embitter 
them  more  than  any  opposition  of  employer  is  the  un- 
readiness, the  unwillingness  of  the  people  whom  they 
exhort  to  get  worked  up.  But  bitterness  and  violence 
will  never  solve  anything.  At  least  no  solution  of 
theirs  can  do  what  understanding  cooperation  can  do. 
Among  employers  as  well  as  among  the  working 
masses  you  see  two  schools  growing  up — they  were  in 
session  long  before  the  war — one  a  school  of  reason, 
the  other  a  school  of  force. 

''We  have,  first,  the  labor  extremist — not  necessarily 
a  workingman  himself  or  a  man  who  has  ever  had  ex- 
perience in  building  up  a  real,  going  labor  organiza- 
tion— who  wants  industrial  war;  who  has  been  busy 
these  three  years  past  playing  on  class  prejudice  in 
every  possible  way.  He  is  sincere,  and  some  of  the 
facts  he  throws  up  to  us  need  our  attention,  to  say  the 
least.  Then  there  is  the  extremist  on  the  other  side, 
also  sincere,  with  some  facts,  too,  at  his  command,  who 
sees  the  beginning  of  the  end  in  any  attempt  to  be  soft 
or  patient.     Let  me  say  for  British  industry  that  the 


112  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

dog-fight  basis  is  going  out  rapidly,  and  tlie  mass  of 
employers  are  no  whit  behind  others  in  desire  to  do  the 
right  thing.  They  have  given  up  abusing  labor  for 
having  power  without  responsibility;  the  remedy  as 
they  see  it  is  not  to  break  the  power  but  to  increase  the 
responsibility. 

**So  if  this  big  concern,  common  to  both  parties,  is  to 
prosper,  if  the  school  of  reason  is  to  prevail — and  there 
are  wise  heads  both  among  employers  and  working- 
men  who  form  it — it  must  have  the  backing  of  an  in- 
structed public  opinion.  Lack  of  imagination  is  our 
big  obstacle.  A  great  upheaval  may  be  the  chance  of 
revolutionaries  who  are  wreckers.  But  there  is  a  bet- 
ter chance  these  days  for  the  upbuilders.  War  does 
not  produce ;  it  destroj^s.  To  say  that  industry  is  war 
is  to  say  that  industry  is  waste,  something  the  common 
sense  of  the  people  laughs  at.  But  to  leave  industry's 
door  open  for  war  is  of  course  the  negation  of  sense. 
The  way  of  hope  is  in  better  production  under  a 
larger  direction  of  industry.  Passing  out  accumulated 
wealth  in  the  form  of  extravagant  wages  or  prizes,  dis- 
tributing capital  as  working  expenses  is  the  shortest 
road  to  national  suicide. 

**We  need  to  look  at  work  itself  and  the  w^ay  it  is 
carried  on.  Under  right  direction — something  which 
the  men  as  much  as  the  management  must  supply — 
work  should  mean  initiative,  more  enterprise  and  serv- 
ice. The  reconstruction  we  all  talk  about  means  just 
one  thing:  Removal  of  strife  through  reconciliation; 
and  reconciliation  depends  on  new  motives  at  work  in 
the  conduct  of  industry.  From  the  national  point  of 
view  the  employer  is  a  failure  if  he  does  not  manage 
to  pay  not  only  dividends  on  the  capital  he  must  bor- 


AS  THE  BRITISH  EMPLOYER  SEES  IT      143 

row  but  wages  sufficient  for  the  employee  to  live  as  a 
citizen  should,  and,  in  addition,  supply  opportunity  for 
the  employee  to  find  incentives  for  service  during  em- 
ployment." 

The  head  of  a  Sheffield  firm  tapping  world  markets 
with  its  product  gives  time  now  to  industrial  problems 
which  he  used  to  spend  in  building  up  his  great  organ- 
ization. ' '  I  have  been  waiting  for  years, ' '  he  said, ' '  to 
do  this  very  thing,  because  I  think  it  is  the  main  busi- 
ness of  an  employer  to  see  to  it  that  his  foundations  are 
sound,  and  hj  foundations  I  mean  the  satisfaction  of 
the  working  force  with  their  conditions  and  with  their 
position.  Many  years  ago,  against  much  opposition  in 
the  trade,  we  refused  to  join  in  a  reduction  of  wages 
by  one  shilling  a  head.  Times  were  bad,  to  be  sure, 
but  I  felt  that  it  was  our  business,  inasmuch  as  we 
had  been  settling  everything  for  ourselves,  to  shoulder 
the  load  of  depression.  Our  stand  held  up  any  further 
attempt  to  dock  wages.  Three  months  later  conditions 
improved  and  I  was  thanked  by  my  former  opponents 
for  the  stand  I  took. 

''In  the  same  way  we  started  years  ago  with  a  shorter 
workday.  Dire  predictions  of  our  ruin  filled  our  mail ; 
we  were  supposed  to  be  defying  economic  laws.  Well, 
events  have  proved  that  we  were  merely  a  little  ahead 
of  our  time,  and  our  growth  proves  meanwhile  that 
prosperity  depends  a  good  deal  on  whether  your  men 
work  with  you  or  not. 

''I  have  served  on  a  good  many  committees,  but  I 
have  not  seen  enough  workmen's  representatives  on 
them.  Once  I  was  on  a  committee  to  look  into  the  ques- 
tion of  our  mineral  resources.  The  best  lead  I  had 
was  from  a  man  who  was  once  a  miner  and  is  now  in  a 


\H  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

small  hiisiness  of  his  own.  I  made  it  my  business  to 
look  him  up,  and  he  gave  me  the  idea  of  a  central 
bureau  of  information,  which  is  the  key  to  our  utilizing 
the  country's  mineral  and  other  resources.  We  should 
open  up  every  avenue  of  education  for  the  worker;  in- 
dustry suffers  because  the  worker  starts  life  handi- 
capped by  entering  too  early  to  have  given  himself  a 
schooling  and  a  sound  body.  And  once  he  has  this 
education  opportunity  must  be  afforded  for  him  to  use 
it. 

''Modern  labor  is  very  irksome  where  it  is  of  a  repe- 
titive kind.  It  hardly  calls  out  the  best  in  any  man. 
And  the  more  irksome  the  work  the  poorer  the  wage; 
this  is  too  often  the  rule.  Now  I  do  not  know  whether 
we  are  any  wiser  than  anybody  else  or  have  a  better 
selection  of  men.  I  think  we  are  about  the  average. 
But  we  have  never  had  a  strike.  This  is  due  to  a  pol- 
icy. We  have  a  round  table  for  the  discussion  by  all 
concerned  of  every  possible  question  that  arises  and 
interests  our  employees.  If  they  have  any  matter  that 
seems  important  to  them  that  is  enough  guaranty  for 
us  that  it  is  important. 

*'We  do  not  live  by  bread  alone;  this  is  said  often 
enough,  but  we  do  not  take  it  home  with  us.  We  once 
started  our  works  at  six  in  the  morning.  Before  the 
men  could  get  a  good  sleep  they  had  to  rise  from  bed 
and  scurry  off  to  w^ork.  We  are  not  early  risers  in  this 
country,  as  are  the  Americans.  So  we  had  much  bad 
time  keeping  and  no  end  of  irritation.  The  men, 
many  of  them,  did  not  come  in  until  they  had  their 
breakfast.  We  tried  starting  a  half  hour  later,  but 
that  made  no  difference.  Then  we  started  at  seven- 
twenty-five,   and  omitted   the  break  at  nine   o'clock. 


AS  THE  BRITISH  EMPLOYER  SEES  IT      145 

The  scheme  nearly  fell  down  because  of  the  opposition 
of  the  men.  Before  long,  however,  the  scheme  suc- 
ceeded, all  hands  agreeing  that  it  was  on  the  right  lines. 
Our  mistake  was  in  not  going  over  the  whole  situation 
with  the  men  and  letting  their  judgment  and  knowledge 
settle  the  thing.  To-day  our  late  start  attracts  many 
workers  to  our  firm. 

''Our  clerks  and  salaried  people  have  vacations  with 
pay.  I  shall  never  be  satisfied  until  every  laborer  may 
take  his  vacation  with  pay.  The  cost  is  not  the  main 
consideration.  We  cannot  balance  dollars  or  pounds 
against  the  health  and  well-being  of  men  and  women. 
Hope  is  the  great  stimulus.  We  want  our  working 
force  to  find  scope  for  their  ambitions.  They  are  en- 
titled to  a  high  standard  of  living.  We  claim  it  for 
ourselves,  do  we  not? 

' '  Our  plants  cover  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres.  The 
famous  River  Don,  mentioned  by  Chaucer,  is  near  by. 
In  the  sixteenth  century  apprentices  working  in  Shef- 
field struck  because  they  were  fed  on  its  salmon  every 
day.  They  surely  had  the  right  to  some  variety.  As  I 
view  the  industrial  future  of  my  country  I  believe  we 
are  in  for  the  abolition  of  squalor,  misery  and  bad 
conditions. 

"Our  people,  who  have  saved  the  country  and  helped 
in  no  small  way  to  save  the  world,  are  entitled  to  con- 
tentment, good  pay,  decent  homes  with  gardens,  and 
an  education  for  their  children  to  enable  them  to  fit 
themselves  for  the  life  which  appeals  to  them  most, 
and  to  make  fine  men  and  women  of  them. 

''These  are  not  the  visions  of  a  dreamer.  Out  of 
the  ashes  of  the  war  we  want  to  raise  something  worth 
while.    War  has  given  us  many  new  problems,  but  we 


1  K)  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

are  tackling  them  in  the  proper  spirit.  I  do  not  mean 
to  wait  until  the  shadow  of  the  grave  falls  before  I  do 
my  share  and  pay  my  debt  to  my  fellow  workers. 
They  are  the  molders  of  their  own  destiny.  I  want 
to  have  the  privilege  while  I  can  yet  be  active  to  join 
with  them  in  making  industry  a  big  opportunity  for  all 
of  us  and  for  the  nation." 

Men  like  Mr.  Balfour  arc  the  trustees  of  a  fund, 
known  as  the  Garton  Foundation,  which  has  been  spe- 
cializing on  the  subject  of  industrial  reconstruction. 
The  secretary  of  this  foundation  has  had  ample  oppor- 
tunity to  size  up  the  situation,  and  this  is  how  he  views 
it: 

"Let  me  try  briefly  to  sketch  the  industrial  situation 
likely  to  prevail  after  the  war.  The  demobilization  of 
several  millions  of  men  and  the  rearrangement  of  the 
employment  of  several  million  men  and  women,  muni- 
tion workers  and  the  like,  will  throw  a  vast  number  of 
workers  on  the  labor  market.  Yet  I  do  not  think  there 
will  be  much  unemployment.  Civil  demands  will  take 
the  place  of  war  demands.  The  task  will  be  rather  the 
right  distribution  than  the  provision  of  emplo\Tiient, 
the  bringing  together  of  the  worker  and  the  work. 

**Much  more  serious  in  prospect  is  the  situation  in 
regard  to  wages.  Unless  a  special  effort  is  made  the 
total  national  output,  and  consequently  the  national 
income,  may  be  smaller  than  before  the  war.  Out  of 
the  total  national  wealth  a  large  slice  will  be  required 
for  repairs  and  rebuilding.  Though  labor  will  be  in 
demand  we  have  to  face  the  fact  that  discontent  may  be 
aggravated  by  certain  features  in  the  general  temper 
of  the  nation.  An  effort  so  stupendous  as  that  made 
during  the  war  is  followed  by  sure  reaction.     Unless  a 


AS  THE  BRITISH  EMPLOYER  SEES  IT      14^7 

fresh  stimulus  follows  the^ire  will  come  a  dull  and  bick- 
ering mood.  Such  moods  incline  to  a  breaking  down 
rather  than  a  building  up.  Though  most  men,  I  be- 
lieve, want  to  see  normal  conditions  restored  as  soon 
as  possible  no  one  can  tell  how  many  men  are  at- 
tracted by  the  idea  of  continuing  the  use  of  force  to 
settle  further  problems  of  ours.  What  has  been  over- 
thrown in  war  will  not  long  be  tolerated  under  an- 
other guise  in  peace.  The  industrial  order  toward 
which  we  must  work  is  one  in  which  an  evil  spirit  is 
replaced  by  cooperation,  equality,  freedom  and  mutual 
aid.  Industry  is  a  phase  of  the  art  of  living  together. 
Responsibility  rather  than  authority  will  keep  it 
sound." 

''Our  industrial  problem  is  at  root  one  of  human  na- 
ture. The  ill  will  that  has  poisoned  industrial  rela- 
tions in  the  past  springs  in  large  part  from  a  failure 
of  understanding.  It  has  been  believed  that  industry 
was  a  game  of  beggar-my-neighbor,  a  game  in  which 
one  side  could  gain  only  at  the  expense  of  the  other. 
The  belief  is  as  false  as  it  is  pernicious.  There  are 
divergent  interests  between  employers  and  employed, 
but  they  are  enormously  outweighed  by  the  interests 
that  are  common  to  both.  The  law  of  industry  is  not 
conflict  but  cooperation.  Secrecy  is  the  father  of  much 
evil.  The  parties  to  industry  must  lower  their  defenses 
and  come  out  courageously  on  to  the  open  ground. 

"The  present  demands  of  labor  go  far  beyond  mere 
questions  of  wages  or  even  hours  and  working  condi- 
tions. The  official  program  of  the  Labor  Party  in- 
cludes nationalization  of  land,  railways,  coal  mines, 
shipping,  power  stations  and  the  insurance  business, 
together  with  a  large  state  control  over  prices,  wages 


14«  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

and  profits.  The  guild  movement  proposes  to  set  up 
ill  each  industry  an  autonomous  government,  and  the 
rank-and-file  movement,  which  is  rapidly  growing  in 
strengtli,  proposes  to  do  the  same  for  each  shop.  The 
real  strength  ])ohind  these  programs  is  uncertain,  but 
tlie  unrest  thoy  indicate  is  a  dominant  factor  in  the 
situation.  The  use  of  industrial  organization  to 
achieve  certain  ends  was  seen  in  the  seamen's  boycott, 
and  in  the  proposals  one  hears  now  and  again  for  work- 
men's  and  soldiers'  councils  in  this  country. 

''It  is  a  common  assumption  that  it  is  only  the  prop- 
ertied classes  who  have  anything  to  lose  in  an  out- 
break of  class  warfare  or  industrial  conflict,  and  the 
assumption  is  untrue.  The  methods  of  conflict  are 
very  etTective  for  pulling  down;  they  are  both  inef- 
fective and  uncertain  as  means  of  building  up.  Now 
the  idea  of  partnership  in  industry  does  not  mean  that 
the  functions  of  capital,  management  and  labor  must 
or  should  be  merged ;  that  no  useful  part  can  be  played 
by  the  investor;  or  that  the  technical  side  of  a  business 
can  be  removed  from  expert  control. 

''During  the  next  few  years  we  shall  probably  see 
British  industry  organize  itself  for  the  purpose  of 
raising  both  the  standard  of  production  and  the  stan- 
dard of  industrial  life  to  a  higher  level." 

Talk  with  any  representative  manufacturer  or  busi- 
ness man  in  Great  Britain  and  you  will  be  struck  by 
the  common  note  as  to  what  is  ahead  for  industry. 
There  is  no  depression,  though  quite  apart  from  labor 
prol)lems  war  has  left  a  legacy  of  problems  galore  for 
them  to  face.  Perhaps  a  truer  picture  of  what  has 
happened  would  be  to  say  that,  in  the  supreme  effort 
which    Britain    made,    considerations    of    the    future 


AS  THE  BRITISH  EMPLOYER  SEES  IT      149 

played  almost  no  part.  One  keeps  forever  marveling 
at  these  unboastful,  uncomplaining  people.  By  dint 
of  probing  information  dribbles  out,  of  industries 
abandoned,  commerce  thrown  overboard,  all  in  order  to 
keep  up  the  flow  of  supplies  to  the  Front,  not  to  that  of 
the  British  alone,  but  as  unreservedly  to  that  of  the 
Allies — French,  Italian,  Serbian,  Belgian  and  Ameri- 
can; especiall}^  the  American.  One  business  after  an- 
other has  been  stripped  bare  to  meet  these  needs. 
Markets  long  the  pride  of  English  export  trade  have 
been  neglected.  But  there  's  never  a  wail  or  a 
whimper. 

Locked  up  in  the  archives  of  the  War  Office,  and  in 
the  bureaus  which  have  had  in  charge  the  nerve-strain- 
ing business  of  rationing  the  country's  factory  pro- 
duct between  demands  at  home  and  those  at  the  Front, 
are  records,  as  yet  unpublished,  of  how  British  em- 
ployers played  their  part  in  the  war.  Take  the  cement 
business  as  one  example.  Inroads  made  upon  skilled 
labor  by  recruiting,  difficulty  in  getting  new  machinery 
or  repairs  made  to  old  machinery,  hit  the  cement  in- 
dustry in  the  United  Kingdom  a  serious  blow.  But  at 
the  same  time  demands  for  war  purposes  were  enor- 
mous ;  fortifications,  gun  emplacements,  hospitals,  mu- 
nition factories — all  had  to  have  their  share. 

Then  the  United  States  came  into  the  war.  When 
our  armies  appeared  big  demands  came  for  cement  in 
the  construction  of  hospitals,  camps  and  gun  emplace- 
ments in  France.  To  meet  these  the  export  of  cement 
was  absolutely  shut  down.  Remember  that  the  United 
Kingdom  had  an  important  export  trade  in  cement,  its 
chief  markets  being  India  and  South  America.  Owing 
to  the  absence  of  supplies  from  Belgium  and  Germany 


150  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

the  export  price  jumped.  The  profit  in  export  of  ce- 
ment promised  to  be  enormous.  English  manufactur- 
ers saw  the  growing  competition  of  tlie  United  States 
in  South  America.  Certain  English  brands  of  cement 
had  a  good  footing  in  South  America;  manufacturers 
could  see  their  market  slipping  away  from  them.  In 
spite  of  this  situation  English  manufacturers  and  mer- 
chants most  loyally  helped  in  the  restrictions  imposed 
upon  them. 

"Our  American  and  our  other  Allies  wanted  it; 
we  '11  think  about  our  market  presently";  this  is  how 
they  put  it  to  you. 

After  the  signing  of  the  armistice  cement  manufac- 
turers sought  to  recapture  their  export  markets.  It 
was  pointed  out  to  them,  however,  that  the  ravages 
of  war  remained,  even  though  hostilities  had  ceased, 
and  that  it  was  in  the  interest  of  the  country  that 
supplies  should  be  held  for  rebuilding  purposes.  So, 
though  restrictions  on  the  sale  of  cement  within  the 
United  Kingdom  have  been  removed,  the  government 
still  retains  control  over  export.  Only  a  very  small 
quantity,  compared  with  the  pre-war  figures,  is  per- 
mitted to  leave  the  country.  Of  course  the  manufac- 
turers feel  the  loss  of  their  overseas  trade,  but  they 
are  standing  by — devotion  to  their  country,  as  always, 
the  first  consideration. 

Take  the  tin-plate  industry,  for  another  illustration. 
Tin  plate  is  one  of  the  important  weapons  of  warfare ; 
on  it  the  feeding  of  armies  depends.  The  soldier's 
rations  in  nearly  every  form  are  packed  in  this  metal. 
Conditions  under  which  this  war  has  been  fought  forced 
the  use  of  quantities  of  cold  rations,  which  of  neces- 


AS  THE  BRITISH  EMPLOYER  SEES  IT      151 

sity  have  to  be  packed  in  tin  plate ;  in  a  region  like  Italy 
or  Saloniki,  troops  had  to  remain  for  weeks  on  the 
peaks  or  sides  of  mountains,  far  removed  from  their 
base,  almost  out  of  touch  with  transport. 

Very  early  in  the  war  an  acute  shortage  of  tin  plate 
made  itself  felt.  Apart  from  its  uses  in  the  packing 
of  foodstuffs  it  is  an  indispensable  element  in  muni- 
tions. Lack  of  freight  facilities  further  cut  down  the 
supplies  of  tin.  Then  demands  for  steel  for  guns,  shell 
and  other  supplies  made  it  necessary  to  ration  the 
quantity  of  steel  available  for  the  tin-plate  industry. 
France,  Italy,  Serbia  and  Belgium  were  largely  de- 
pendent upon  British  supplies,  and  allocations  of  tin 
plate  had  to  be  made  by  the  British  Government  to 
the  Allied  governments.  The  shortage  within  the 
United  Kingdom  became  so  acute  that  the  use  of  tin 
plate  for  every  nonessential  purpose  had  to  be  cur- 
tailed or  altogether  abolished. 

The  effect  upon  the  tin  box-making  industry  was  al- 
most disastrous. 

Finally,  the  tin-plate  manufacturers  had  to  sacrifice 
their  export  trade.  British  tin  plate  has  always  been 
in  great  demand  throughout  the  world.  Enormous 
quantities  were  exported  before  the  war  to  South 
America  for  the  use  of  the  packing  industry.  The  loyal 
cooperation  not  only  of  the  manufacturers  but  also  of 
the  tin-box  makers  answered  the  call  of  the  govern- 
ment. Every  attempt  was  made  to  salvage  old  tin 
plate;  and  large  quantities  of  old  cans  and  tin  lin^ngs 
have  been  brought  back  from  various  theaters  of  war 
and  distributed  to  the  factories  in  the  United  Kingdom 
in  order  to  keep  them  going  as  well  as  circumstances 


152  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

would  allow.  But  liritisli  industry  went  in  Tor  win- 
ning the  war;  problems  of  trade  and  markets  were  ad- 
journed for  its  duration. 

The  head  of  probably  the  largest  rubber  works  in  the 
Old  World,  who  is  also  a  leading  figure  in  an  asso- 
ciation of  manufacturers  representing  two  billion  d(jl- 
lars  of  capital,  looks  forward  to  a  program  on  national 
scale  for  improvement  in  the  neglected  physical  sur- 
roundings of  the  workers.  He  believes  that  something 
practical  and  lasting  will  come  from  the  spirit  of  team- 
work stirring  in  Great  Britain. 

"It  is  not  too  much  to  hope,"  he  said,  "that  disap- 
pearance of  antagonisms  will  be  one  of  the  results  of 
the  loyal  comradeship  of  all  classes  during  the  past 
four  years.  Cooperation  must  be  the  watchword;  on 
the  one  side  the  emploj^er  must  be  prepared  to  pay 
good  and  adequate  wages  for  good  work.  He  must 
also  be  prepared  to  remove  from  the  minds  of  work- 
men the  dread  of  what  has  hitherto  been  the  conse- 
quences of  unemployment  and  sickness.  It  must  be 
recognized  that  very  often  the  worker  finds  himself  on 
the  unemployed  market  through  no  fault  of  his  own. 

"It  is  up  to  both  employers  and  employed  to  prove 
to  each  other  that  the  mutual  suspicions  of  the  past 
are  no  longer  justified.  In  all  probability  the  state  will 
demand  a  definite  percentage  on  an  equitable  basis 
of  profits  made  in  industry.  If  so,  this  must  not  be 
used  as  a  means  of  restricting  the  fullest  possible  pro- 
duction. Both  employers  and  employed  must  bear  in 
mind  that  full  production,  in  addition  to  benefiting 
themselves  directly,  will  bring  indirect  benefit  inas- 
much as  it  will  contribute  to  the  general  well-being  of 
the  state. 


AS  THE  BRITISH  EMPLOYER  SEES  IT      153 

'  *  Every  facility  should  be  given  to  insure  the  intelli- 
gent interest  of  the  workers  in  every  phase  of  the  in- 
dustry in  which  they  are  concerned.  They  should  be 
educated  on  questions  such  as  the  supply  of  raw  ma- 
terial, its  production  and  purchase,  the  selling  and 
marketing  of  goods,  and  in  short  all  commercial  opera- 
tions that  affect  the  work  in  which  they  are  engaged. 
This  should  be  one  of  the  results  of  the  recent  establish- 
ment of  industrial  comicils  under  the  Whitley  scheme. 

"The  question  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  all  in 
Britain  to-day,  be  they  directors,  managers  or  clerks 
in  the  countinghouse,  machine  minders  in  the  shop  or 
sweepers  in  the  yard,  is  whether,  now  that  the  Ger- 
mans are  beaten,  there  shall  be  peace  or  war  in  indus- 
try. 

"There  are  people,  and  many  of  them,  who  say  that 
industrial  strife  is  unthinkable.  These  people  point 
to  the  united  front  which  employer,  workmen  and 
women  presented  to  the  common  enemy  all  these  past 
weary  four  years ;  to  the  officers  in  the  trenches  saving 
the  lives  of  their  men  and  the  men  dying  for  their 
officers;  to  the  women  of  society  entering  munition 
works  and  laboring  at  bench  and  machine  side  by  side 
with  the  girls  from  the  unfavored  quarters;  and  the 
workwomen  leaving  all  sorts  of  places  for  the  manu- 
facture of  shell.  Europe  could  not  have  held  out  with- 
out Britain,  nor  America  have  come  over  in  time,  and 
Britain's  strength  was  the  strength  of  all,  not  a  part, 
of  her  sons  and  daughters. 

"Nevertheless,  now  that  the  purpose  for  which  this 
unity  came  into  being  is  accomplished,  it  is  in  the  bal- 
ance whether,  as  far  as  industry  is  concerned,  the 
truce  to  internal  war  will  not  be  broken  and  the  old, 


151  IMANAtiKMKN'r  AM)  .Ml A 

old  striigf^le  oi"  capital  and  labor  bo  renewed  on  a  vaster 
scale  than  ever  before, 

"The  reasons  are  not  far  to  seek.  First,  evcr>'  one 
has  been  at  strain  during  the  war.  Business  has  been 
hard.  Work  in  yard  and  shop  and  office  has  been  very 
hard.  Nerves  all  round  have  been  on  edge,  not  for 
weeks  or  months,  but  for  years.  You  in  America  know 
better  than  most  people  what  that  means — for  you  are 
the  hardest  and  most  concentrated  workers  in  the 
world.  Then,  think  of  the  anxiety  and  suffering  of 
literally  millions  of  our  workers — whether  managers 
or  staff — with  their  loved  ones  away  in  trench  or  on 
the  sea  or,  worst  of  all,  in  German  or  Turkish  hands. 

''Can  you  wonder  if,  now  that  the  strain  relaxes, 
we  over  here,  after  the  first  great  sigh  of  relief  and 
thankfulness  and  triumph,  feel  irritable  and  uneasy 
and  inclined  to  turn  to  the  consideration  of  personal 
matters  in  the  spirit  of  overtired  people  who,  having 
nursed  their  sick  back  to  life,  now  when  they  need  rest 
find  that  they  must  work  harder  than  ever  to  get  enough 
to  live  on  and  pay  the  doctor's  bill? 

' '  That  is  the  condition  of  industrial  folk  all  round  in 
this  country,  and  no  doubt  in  others.  Then,  every- 
thing has  been  topsy-turvy.  No  employer  has  been 
able  to  call  his  works  his  own,  while  workpeople  on 
their  side  in  hundreds  of  thousands,  perhaps  millions, 
of  cases  have  had  to  leave  home  and  work  under  most 
uncomfortable  and  artificial  conditions,  to  say  the  least 
of  it,  without  any  holiday  to  speak  of  and  without  any 
family  life. 

"Now  on  top  of  all  this  we  have  to  handle  the  de- 
mobilization of  sailors  and  soldiers,  some  five  millions ; 
and  of  munition  workers,  three  millions ;  and  to  adjust 


AS  THE  BRITISH  EMPLOYER  SEES  IT      155 

every  kind  of  war  process  in  industry  to  peace  condi- 
tions. If  all  these  circumstances  are  reviewed  I  do 
not  think  this  nation,  with  all  its  faults,  should  be  too 
hardly  judged  if,  now  that  it  has  to  set  its  affairs  in 
order,  it  kicks  up  a  certain  amount  of  dust  in  the 
process. 

''That  dust  will  be  raised  is  certain.  We  are  an 
awkward-tempered  crowd,  we  Britishers;  and  all  of 
us,  whether  English,  Scotch  or  Irish — or,  as  most  of  us 
are,  a  blend  of  all  three — take  kindly  to  a  good  square 
row  among  ourselves  at  times,  as  ducks  to  water.  But 
there  are  rows  and  rows,  and  there  is  all  the  difference 
in  the  world  between  a  '  dust  up '  between  men  who  be- 
neath the  surface  are  comrades,  and  men  who,  though 
smooth  when  they  meet,  keep  knives  in  their  boots. 

''There  are  in  every  trade  employers  and  profiteers 
ready  and  eager  to  exploit  labor  and  grind  the  faces 
of  the  poor.  But  they  will  not  be  able,  these  people, 
to  upset  the  life  and  destroy  the  balance  of  the  nation 
which  has  achieved  what  Britain  has  achieved  in  the 
mighty  struggle  we  have  won. 

"I  have  been  in  Manchester  and  Birmingham,  in 
Sheffield,  in  Liverpool,  in  Cardiff  and  in  Newcastle,  and 
in  almost  every  other  center  where  the  lifeblood  of  our 
industries  runs.  And  everywhere  I  have  found  that 
the  moment  a  straight  appeal  for  fair  play  is  put  to 
any  meeting  of  workmen  and  employers  by  trusted 
leaders  on  each  side  there  comes  a  response  that 
crushes  to  pulp  the  storming  and  shrieking  of  those 
who  would  destroy." 

Never  before  the  present  time  have  so  many  big 
business  men  given  such  sober,  persevering  and  un- 
prejudiced thought  to  industrial  problems.     Before  the 


156  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

war  you  would  have  had  to  do  some  running  around  to 
get  a  line  on  what  might  be  called  the  viewpoint  of  in- 
dustry. There  was  a  viewpoint,  of  course,  if  that  is 
the  word  for  an  utter  lack  of  understanding  on  the  part 
of  the  average  employer  of  forces  working  in  the  field 
of  industrial  relations  and  management.  Tradition 
and  outworn  notions  about  the  place  of  labor  bandaged 
the  eyes  and  clouded  the  thinking  of  the  everyday  ex- 
ecutive. 

Labor,  on  the  other  hand,  had  its  viewpoint  and  its 
program,  unmistakably,  for  years  back.  The  war  only 
accentuated  the  outline  and  the  detail  of  that  program. 
There  was  no  mistaking  what  w^orkmen  wanted;  they 
had  their  case  in  good  shape. 

The  average  employer  had  other  things  on  his  mind 
than  concern  with  bothersome  labor  questions;  besides, 
it  was  usually  the  chore  of  some  subordinate  to  worry 
about  such  matters.  To-day  no  man  is  too  big  or  too 
busy  in  the  industrial  organization  to  give  time  and 
thought  to  the  human  factors  in  the  situation;  and 
eager  interest  in  these  questions  no  longer  necessarily 
indicates  a  weak  head.  With  the  best  executive  brains 
of  industry  foremost  in  the  present  discussion  of  Brit- 
ain's economic  future  there  is  warrant  enough  for  an 
attitude  of  hopefulness.  The  example  of  those  rare 
employers  who  years  ago  defied  tradition  and  insisted 
on  regarding  industry  mainly  as  a  human  proposition 
has  borne  fruit.  But  the  larger  credit  for  the  present 
spirit  is  due  to  the  influence  of  a  great  experience  in 
common  suffering  and  sacrifice.  The  men  whose  con- 
structive abilities  had  built  up  the  Empire's  industries 
were  not  slow  in  catching  the  significant  lessons  of  this 
experience;  their  brains  are  now  at  the  country's  dis- 


AS  THE  BRITISH  EMPLOYER  SEES  IT      157 

posal,  as  they  have  been  throughout  the  war,  ready  to 
serve  in  the  reconstruction. 

War  came  to  an  end  abruptly,  as  every  one  knows. 
It  might  be  supposed  that,  with  the  four  years  of  agony 
over,  business  men  would  make  a  rush  upon  the  gov- 
ernment, clamor  for  the  privileges  war  had  about  an- 
nihilated, and  proclaim  the  instant  resumption  of ' 'busi- 
ness as  usual."  There  is  reason  enough  for  starting 
up.  But  business  made  no  such  rush  nor  set  up  much 
of  any  clamor ;  and  as  for  proclamations,  the  Britisher 
is  not  much  of  a  proclaimer.  Instead  of  scramble, 
from  the  morning  of  the  armistice  to  this  very  minute, 
the  processes  of  thoughtful  planning  have  operated 
and  characterized  the  transition  from  war  to  peace. 
And  what  is  more  to  the  point,  the  first  concern  of  every 
industrial  leader  has  been  not  with  recapture  of  trade 
but  with  making  a  fresh  start,  a  right  start  in  the  mat- 
ter of  industrial  relations. 

A  man  who  has  done  as  much  as  any  one  individual 
to  build  up  the  industries  of  Western  England  is  giving 
practically  all  his  time  to  this  work.  He  is  for  doing 
away  with  delay  and  procrastination.  He  maintains 
that  there  is  information  enough  at  hand  for  a  start  in 
settling  the  relation  of  employer  and  employed. 

"We  have  had  investigations  enough,"  he  said;  ''let 
us  do  something  now.  There  is  sense  enough  on  both 
sides  to  put  behind  us  some  of  the  problems  that  have 
been  harassing  industry.  Our  insularity,  so  often  a 
stumbling  block,  may  in  this  instance  be  our  safeguard. 
As  for  immediate  measures  that  can  be  taken  to  deal 
with  the  situation,  it  is  clear  that  they  must  be  pro- 
gressive to  an  extent  hitherto  unparalleled,  and  that 
the  grievances  of  labor  must  be  met  in  the  most  gen- 


158  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

erous  spirit.  There  is  little  doubt  that  they  have,  many 
of  them,  a  substantial  foundation  in  fact.  Belief  is 
more  important  than  truth,  and  labor's  conviction  that 
it  has  not  had  a  square  deal  will  not  be  shaken  by  any 
evidence  which  it  is  likely  can  be  adduced  before  a 
royal  commission. 

''If  the  sense  of  injury  can  be  removed  by  a  generous 
pledges  bill  and  by  setting  up  machinery  for  the  in- 
vestigation of  profiteering  and  undue  profits;  if,  fur- 
ther, labor's  desire  for  increased  control  of  its  indus- 
trial life  is  generously  met  by  rapid  extension  on  the 
lines  foreshadowed  by  the  Whitley  report;  and  if,  on 
the  one  hand,  on  all  occasions  labor  is  honestly  and 
fairly  met  and  not  left  with  a  sense  of  having  been 
used  for  a  purpose,  and,  on  the  other,  is  not  treated  like 
a  troublesome  and  unruly  schoolboy  who  has  to  be  hu- 
mored by  his  elders ;  if,  in  fact,  labor  is  understood  as 
having  come  to  manhood — there  is  every  hope  that  the 
difficulties  of  the  transition  period  will  be  successfully 
met." 

The  president  of  the  National  Alliance  of  Employer 
and  Employed,  Frederick  Huth  Jackson,  spoke  for  this 
large  organization  when  he  said  the  other  day  that  all 
men  are  now  agreed  that  the  industrial  system  of  five 
years  ago  can  never  return. 

"A  new  spirit  is  emerging  out  of  our  perplexities," 
he  said,  "the  national  viewpoint  taking  the  place  of  the 
sectional,  and  men  who  in  past  days  were  as  far  apart 
as  the  poles  in  their  outlook  and  opinions  are  trying 
now  to  give  a  practical  meaning  to  that  worn  phrase, 
'community  of  interest.'  It  is  to  the  work  of  eliminat- 
ing bureaucratic  control  as  far  as  possible  and  of  hu- 
manizing problems  of  industrial  reconstruction  that 


AS  THE  BRITISH  EMPLOYER  SEES  IT      159 

our  alliance  has  set  its  hand,  with  results  that  are  en- 
couraging." 

A  concrete  illustration  of  how  this  humanizing  of  in- 
dustrial relations  can  be  carried  out  is  to  be  found  in 
the  Hans  Renold  Works  at  Manchester.^  In  this  plant 
you  find  a  very  detailed  program  of  shop  and  manage- 
ment relationships,  undertaken,  as  the  executives  are 
careful  to  inform  you,  merely  as  experiments.  They 
are  not  afraid  of  experiments.  The  moving  spirit  of 
the  concern,  Charles  Renold,  son  of  the  founder,  who 
set  his  ideals  to  work  at  the  same  time  with  his  me- 
chanical inventions,  is  a  Cornell  graduate,  who  has  the 
fixed  conviction  that  industrial  management  is  entering 
on  a  new  stage.  And  because  he  has  this  notion  and 
finds  that  opposition  to  it  in  the  trade^  is  disappearing 
he  is  hopeful  for  the  nation's  industrial  future. 

What  he  is  after  is  to  find  out  by  actual  trial  how  far 
under  present  conditions  the  necessary  machinery  can 
be  set  up  within  an  industry  for  distributing  the  mana- 
gerial load.  If  industrial  life  fails  to  satisfy  the 
worker,  he  argues,  even  with  advances  in  wages  and  re- 
duction of  hours,  there  must  be  still  something  left  for 
a  manager  to  do.  The  Renold  Works  use  a  large  num- 
ber of  automatic  machines.  Apparently  every  im- 
provement in  the  automatic  workings  of  these  machines 
deepened  a  resentment  which  the  men  felt  but  said  little 
about,  at  least  within  hearing  of  the  management ;  and 
Charles  Renold  was  intelligent  enough  to  sense  this 
feeling  or  "atmosphere." 

The  easy  remedy  of  telling  men  who  didn't  like  be- 
coming cogs  in  a  machine  to  make  way  for  those  who 

1  See  page  546,  Workshop  Committees,  C.  G.  Renold. 


1()0  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

(lid  never  entered  his  mind,  lie  enjoyed  the  initiative, 
freedom  and  interest  that  he  found  in  his  daily  work, 
;\u(\  lie  saw  no  reason  why  some  of  these  benefits  might 
not  go  even  with  work  on  automatic  tools.  There  was 
no  changing  the  machines  of  course,  or  the  nature  of 
the  work.  But  there  seemed  to  be  opportunities  that 
might  offer  valuable  compensations.  And  these  op- 
l)ortunities  lay  in  the  direction  of  more  democratic 
methods  in  conducting  the  business  of  production. 
Tliore  was  "enough  power  and  responsibility  to  go 
round;  the  management  need  never  miss  a  share  going 
to  the  employee." 

The  joint-management  scheme  of  the  Kenold  plant  is 
divided  into  two  main  sections.  In  the  first  section  are 
all  those  items  that  are  accepted  as  within  the  unques- 
tioned rights  of  the  workers.  In  the  first  place,  when 
men  are  members  of  outside  labor  organizations  there 
is  need  of  some  parallel  agency  within  the  plant  to 
supervise  agreements  negotiated  and  handle  the  detail 
from  the  intimate  shop,  rather  than  from  the  outside, 
viewpoint. 

Now  the  way  to  act  under  a  system  of  trade  agree- 
ments is  to  begin  at  once  making  sure  that  the  rates 
agreed  on  are  actually  received  by  all  the  individuals 
concerned;  and  furthermore,  to  make  sure  that  rates 
and  scales  of  wages  apply  fairly.  Nor  is  this  all. 
Every  promise  of  advances  in  pa}^  must  be  fulfilled. 
Hedging  is  nowhere  so  fatal  as  in  industry.  In  the 
matter  of  piece  rates,  however  set,  whether  by  collective 
or  individual  agreement,  the  basis  for  each  price  must 
be  such  as  to  leave  no  doubt  or  suspicion  in  the  em- 
ployee's mind.  All  the  data  must  be  placed  where  men 
may  come  freely  to  examine  them. 


AS  THE  BRITISH  EMPLOYER  SEES  IT      161 

The  management  finds  occasion  from  time  to  time  to 
instal  a  new  machine  or  introduce  a  change  in  process 
which  is  likely,  for  a  time  at  least,  to  result  in  cutting 
down  the  number  of  men  employed  in  that  process. 
Here  is  work  cut  out  for  a  shop  or  works  committee  to 
advise  how  the  change  may  be  brought  about  with  the 
least  hardship  to  the  men.  These  changes,  too,  often 
require  a  new  classification  of  the  operatives,  a  new 
grading  of  the  men  on  the  pay  roll.  Conference  is  the 
obvious  method  for  avoiding  the  countless  disputes  in 
all  such  innovations. 

Grievances  are  normal  to  every  aggregation  of  men. 
Where  means  are  provided  for  airing  them,  checking 
any  petty  tyranny  which  they  reveal,  there  is  no  reason 
for  any  bad  feeling  in  the  works ;  to  the  sensible  man- 
ager every  grievance  freely  spoken  is  a  source  of  help. 

For  all  those  questions  which  involve  what  may  be 
called  the  social  life  of  a  factory  the  Renold  idea  is  to 
provide  as  much  self-government  as  possible — such 
questions  as,  for  example,  restriction  of  smoking,  shop 
tidiness,  cleaning  and  oiling  of  machines,  care  of  over- 
alls, time-checking  rules,  pay  days,  use  of  lavatories, 
general  behavior,  meal  hours,  holiday  work,  day  and 
night  shifts,  safety  work,  medical  examination,  wash- 
ing accommodations,  drinking-water  supply,  and  a  num- 
ber more — all  of  them  matters  in  which  the  employee 
has  more  interest  to  see  properly  carried  out  than  even 
the  management. 

^'More  important  than  any  making  over  of  the  man- 
agement machinery,"  Mr.  Renold  said;  ''more  impor- 
tant even  than  prompt  remedying  of  specific  grievances 
is  the  establishing  of  some  degree  of  human  touch  and 
sympathy  between  management  and  men.    I  cannot  em- 


162  MANAGEMENT   AM)  MEN 

I)liasizG  too  strongly  that  the  liopofuhioss  of  any  experi- 
ment lies  not  in  any  machinery  nor  even  in  wideness  of 
power  of  self-government  l)y  the  workers,  but  in  the 
degree  to  which  touch  and,  if  possible,  friendliness  can 
be  established. 

**In  any  case  of  new  rules  or  new  developments  or 
new  workshop  policy  there  is  always  difficulty  in  get- 
ting the  rank  and  file  to  know  what  the  management  is 
driving  at.  The  change  may  l)e  all  to  the  good  ;  l)ut  the 
mere  fact  that  it  is  new  and  not  understood  may  lead  to 
trouble.  If  wise  use  is  made  of  committees  of  workers 
all  such  changes  would  be  discussed,  explained,  and  it 
is  not  extravagant  to  expect  that  these  men  would  soon 
spread  a  correct  version  of  the  management's  inten- 
tions among  their  fellow  workers. 

''Take  the  matter  of  promotions  or  appointments  of 
foremen.  There  is  usually  bad  feeling  and  more.  Ex- 
tremists have  urged  that  workmen  should  choose  their 
own  foremen  by  election.  This  may  become  possible 
when  more  experience  in  self-management  is  in  the 
possession  of  the  workers,  but  the  present  difficulty  is 
that  a  number  of  parties  and  distinct  problems  are  in- 
volved. A  worker  is  naturally  interested  in  the  human 
qualities  of  the  foreman,  his  sympathies,  fairness  or 
helpfulness.  Other  foremen  size  up  the  technical  fit- 
ness of  their  new  colleague.  The  manager  expects  skill 
in  handling  men  and  keeping  up  the  producing  require- 
ments of  the  plant.  Each  of  these  parties  is  looking 
for  a  different  set  of  qualities.  Yet  it  is  worth  while 
making  an  earnest  attempt  to  reach  a  common  under- 
standing through  free  discussion. 

"One  thing  more  than  any  other,  however,  is  of 
practical  help:     The  management  must  lay  down   a 


AS  THE  BRITISH  EMPLOYER  SEES  IT      163 

clear  statement  of  the  qualities  deemed  necessary  for 
such  a  post.  This  done,  everybody  has  an  impersonal 
standard  to  go  by.  Another  vital  point:  The  extent 
to  which  management  functions  can  be  delegated  or 
policies  brought  up  for  discussion  with  the  men  de- 
pends very  largely  on  the  degree  of  completeness  with 
w^hich  the  management  itself  is  organized.  Where 
this  is  haphazard  only  autocratic  control  is  possible. 
Therefore  the  better  organized  and  more  constitu- 
tional— in  the  sense  of  having  known  rules  and  pro- 
cedures— the  management  is,  the  more  possible  it 
makes  joint  action." 

Human  nature  is  on  the  job  at  the  Renold  works,  as 
it  is  pretty  much  everywhere  else.  The  men  of  the 
tool-room  shops  handed  in  one  day  the  following  reso- 
lution : 

''Whilst  agreeing  through  abnormal  conditions  to 
the  introduction  of  women  in  the  tool  room  we  wish  to 
record  our  objection  to  any  w^oman  being  placed  in  anj'^ 
position  of  authority  for  discipline  purposes."  The 
men  explained  that  they  felt  they  were  ''giving  a  lot 
away  in  allowing  women  to  invade  their  trade  and 
strongly  resented  any  woman  coming  into  a  position  of 
authority."  Thanks  to  the  attitude  of  the  women 
there  was  no  further  problem. 

What  a  peep  behind  the  war  curtain  is  a  proposition 
like  this,  which  the  Renold,  and  many  another  manage- 
ment, has  had  to  face:  "Payment  for  stoppage  of 
work  in  case  of  Zeppelin  raids." 

A  delegation  representing  the  two  hundred  men  of  a 
certain  shop  waited  on  the  joint  committee  with  a  pro- 
posal that  the  men  should  have  full  pay  if  they  re- 
mained in  the  factory  during  air  raids ;  or  be  allowed 


161.  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

to  go  home  without  any  record  of  absence.  Think  of 
the  squabble,  recriminations  and  bad  temper  that  ques- 
tions of  pay  when  work  ceases  through  no  fault  of  the 
men  always  give  rise  to.  Many  a  bitter  strike  dates 
from  such  issues,  hitting  against  the  stone  wall  of  a 
deadlock. 

How  did  the  Renold  management  and  its  committee 
system  meet  this  situation?  The  answer  was  payment 
in  full  for  the  first  hour  after  the  stoppage  and  half 
pay  thereafter  for  the  men  who  stayed  in  the  works, 
waiting  to  restart;  ** considering  that  the  circum- 
stances which  bring  about  these  stoppages  were  out  of 
control  of  both  the  management  and  the  men,  and  that 
the  firm  stood  proportionately  to  lose  more  than  the 
men,  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  representatives  that  this 
is  an  equitable  arrangement."  And  note  the  further 
comment  of  the  men's  committee:  ''Instruction  to 
dissuading  people  from  going  home  was  justified  be- 
cause it  generally  happened  that  an  early  restart  was 
possible,  and  the  loss  to  both  sides  would  be  less  than 
by  sending  people  away  immediately  warning  of  a  raid 
was  given,  and  anyway  it  w^as  generally  recognized  that 
it  was  safer  to  remain  under  cover,  and  it  was  only 
serving  the  enemy's  purpose  to  stop  production  more 
than  need  be." 

British  industry  has  ground  for  a  hopeful  view  of 
the  future  so  long  as  good  sense  remains  the  keystone 
of  its  management.  The  can 't-be-done  school  among 
employers  is  on  the  way  to  wholesale  conversion. 
What  has  been  already  done,  and  done  so  w^ell,  leaves 
little  excuse  for  the  industrial  laggard.  No  better 
friends  of  British  industry  exist  than  the  mass  of  the 
rank  and  file.     Given  reasonable  opportunity,  as  indus- 


AS  THE  BRITISH  EMPLOYER  SEES  IT      165 

trial  leaders  have  begun  to  do,  for  satisfaction  with 
industrial  life,  and  big  resources  in  the  way  of  team 
spirit,  efficiency  and  sustained  good  work — the  contri- 
bution of  the  working  force — may  be  added  to  the  stock 
of  Britain's  assets.  Failing  this  there  is  certain  risk 
o-f  turning  friend  into  foe,  a  hopeful  attitude  into  one 
of  antagonism,  and  of  loading  industry  with  burdens 
that  it  could  never  so  little  afford  to  carry  as  now. 

Prominent  employers  say  that  if  only  their  fellow 
employers  desist  from  harking  back  to  conditions  that 
have  gone  for  good  the  future  may  be  made  one  of  big 
promise.  There  will  be  problems  without  end,  and 
many  of  them  will  concern  industrial  relations,  but  this 
need  not  be  disquieting.  Industry  has  always  had 
labor  problems  to  face.  There  is  now  more  general 
knowledge  to  face  them  with,  and  perhaps  a  truer  ap- 
preciation on  the  part  of  both  management  and  men  of 
the  essential  dependence  of  each  upon  the  other. 

I  have  been  impressed  by  the  utter  absence  of  senti- 
mentalism  in  expressions  I  have  heard  among  employ- 
ers as  to  what  industrial  relations  in  the  near  future 
are  to  be.  This  has  seemed  to  me  the  most  promising 
fact  and  guaranty  in  the  situation.  Cool  judgment, 
instead  of  a  mush  of  unworkable  platitudes  and  benev- 
olences, is  being  brought  to  bear  on  questions  that  call 
for  the  same  headwork  that  serious  engineering  or 
organization  problems  demand.  To  say  the  least,  all 
such  questions  are  on  a  par  so  far  as  the  tax  on  the  best 
possible  brain  power  is  concerned.  And  on  the  ques- 
tion of  sound  relations  in  Britain's  workshops  you  will 
find  first-rate  brain  power  in  action  now. 

Mr.  Gordon  Selfridge  needs  as  little  introduction  in 
the  United  States  as  he  does  in  England.     Holding  the 


166  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

uni(iuo  position  of  a  very  successful  American  mer- 
chant ill  Uiu  center  of  Britain's  retail  trade  he  knows 
what  the  merchant  and  manufacturer  as  well  as  the 
bulk  of  the  population  here  are  thinking  of,  indus- 
trially speaking. 

"I  think  that  much  of  the  unrest  has  been  due,"  Mr. 
Self  ridge  said,  ''to  the  attitude  of  some  employers. 
Trouble  between  labor  and  capital  is  frequently  due  to 
the  employer;  and  in  so  many  cases  we  discover  when 
the  employer  has  grown  from  the  ranks  of  labor  he 
becomes  autocratic,  using  just  those  elements  which 
irritate  and  which  give  a  desire  to  hit  back. 

''Leaders  among  labor  say  that  in  addition  to  good 
wages,  and  so  on,  the  workers  feel  that  as  growing 
human  beings  and  as  citizens  they  ought  to  have  more 
voice  in  the  management.  If  I  may  be  personal — in 
this  business,  where  we  have  about  five  thousand  em- 
ployees, the  discipline  of  the  house  is  in  the  hands  of  a 
staff  or  employee  council,  which  is  an  elected  body  and 
which  is  entirely  independent  of  the  working  manage- 
ment of  the  house,  because  the  general  good  judgment 
of  the  staff  council  representing  the  employees  keeps 
it  always  in  the  center  of  the  road. 

"I  cannot  but  feel  that  the  steady,  unhysterical, 
good  common  sense  which  permeates  this  community 
and  practically  every  member  of  it  this  side  will  not 
be  effected  by  the  Continental  upheaval. 

"There  is  a  great  difference  between  a  political  con- 
dition and  a  commercial  condition.  Commerce  is  open 
for  any  one  to  employ  his  ability  as  he  chooses  and  as 
he  is  able,  and  there  is  no  sovereign  state  in  that  great 
field  of  occupation.  If  a  manager  become  bumptious 
and  overimpressed  with  his  authority  he  is  going  to 


AS  THE  BRITISH  EMPLOYER  SEES  IT      167 

do  that  which  irritates  and  which  gives  the  other  side 
the  feeling  that  it  has  been  treated  unjustly;  and  the 
people  of  our  race  and  with  our  lines  of  thought  object 
above  everything  else  to  that  which  we  consider 
injustice. 

''If  the  manager  employs  the  same  kind  of  good  sense 
in  the  careful  control  and  the  direction  and  supervision 
of  those  people  who  are  upon  his  pay  roll  that  he  him- 
self would  like  under  the  same  circumstances  there  is 
likely  to  be  no  trouble  whatever. 

"We  have,  however,  reached  that  time  when  the  ab- 
sence of  that  good  sense  is  going  to  make  trouble  much 
easier  than  it  was  a  generation  or  more  ago,  because 
the  so-called  common  people  or  the  multitude  are  ap- 
proaching more  closely  to  those  who  have  heretofore 
been  recognized  as  the  favored  few.  There  is  less  dif- 
ference to-day  between  the  duke  and  the  street  cleaner 
than  there  ever  was  before. 

"As  to  the  question,  will  there  be  enough  work? — 
that  will  depend  largely  upon  the  energy  that  is  em- 
ployed by  those  who  have  the  thing  in  hand.  There 
will  be  no  trouble  in  finding  plenty  of  employment  for 
those  who  are  pressing  the  opportunities  of  this  empire 
if  those  who  really  are  in  the  position  to  use  energy  and 
enterprise  do  utilize  their  ability  as  they  should.  In 
other  words,  the  whole  world  is  Great  Britain's  field  in 
which  she  could  trade,  and  trade  and  commerce  are  the 
things  which  really  keep  the  country  going,  because 
they  are  the  wage  earners  of  the  state.  If,  therefore, 
they  are  in  a  position  to  do  so  they  should  use  the  enter- 
prise and  the  energy  which  are  so  desirable  and  attract 
the  different  parts  of  the  world  through  their  mer- 
chandise, taking  up  as  much  as  they  can  of  the  trade 


168  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

which  (Jormaiiy  has  sacriliccd,  at  least  for  the  moment. 
There  should  be  no  trouble  whatever  in  a  very  great 
era  of  prosperity  for  this  country. 

**The  stores  that  are  dealing  locally  must  look  for 
their  results  to  the  general  welfare  of  the  country,  and 
if  the  country  as  a  whole  is  prosperous  they  will  do 
well,  and  vice  versa.  Our  Christmas  trade  has  been 
very  much  the  biggest,  I  think,  England  has  ever  had. 
We  broke  all  records  in  a  thousand  places,  and  I  think 
it  has  been  generally  good  all  over  the  country.  The 
causes  of  this  boom  are  general  light-heartedness  of  the 
people,  the  fact  that  the  shadow  of  war  is  removed,  the 
fact  that  a  very  large  number  of  the  community  had 
been  earning  excellent  wages,  and  also  that  Christmas 
in  Great  Britain  is  always  a  time  for  demonstrating 
that  feeling  of  good  will,  and  therefore  it  was  the  best 
time  to  show  its  relief. 

''Before  the  war  there  was  in  the  industrial  life  of 
England  very  much  too  much  of  the  conservative  spirit 
which  let  well  enough  alone  and  which  said  'Why 
should  we  change  from  the  methods  of  our  fathers?' 
That  was  undesirable  and  inefficient  spirit,  and  could 
only  have  resulted  in  a  serious  setback  to  England's 
commercial  spirit.  It  was  that  spirit  which  had  been 
allowed  to  grow  that  made  it  very  much  easier  for 
Germany  to  get  her  large  trade.  The  reason  that 
spirit  had  been  allowed  to  grow  was  because  to  many 
in  England  the  game  of  success  did  not  seem  quite 
worth  the  candle,  and  the  spirit  of  the  love  of  ease  was 
considered  more  desirable  than  the  love  of  efficiency. 

"We  have  learned  that  the  productive  ability  of  this 
small  country  is,  when  pushed  hard,  very  much  greater 
than  heretofore  has  been  considered  possible.     With 


AS  THE  BRITISH  EMPLOYER  SEES  IT      169 

the  great  manufacturing  districts  of  Northern  France 
in  the  hands  of  the  soldiers  and  producing  no  material, 
with  restrictions  which  made  importation  from  Amer- 
ica and  other  foreign  countries  practically  impossible, 
the  manufacturing  sections  of  this  country  have  geared 
themselves  up  to  such  a  rate  that  they  have  not  only 
supplied  us  in  Great  Britain  with  all  the  merchandise 
we  want  and  more,  but  they  have  furnished  enormous 
amounts  for  France,  Italy,  and  so*  on. 

' '  I  cannot  speak  too  highly  of  the  splendid  work  that 
the  women  of  this  country  have  done  at  that  moment 
when  their  assistance  was  so  necessary.  They  grasped 
the  oar  and  pulled  with  all  their  might  to  bring  this 
boat  into  harbor,  and  they  have  raised  themselves  enor- 
mously in  the  respect  of  the  entire  community  as  being 
efficient  in  those  things  in  which  heretofore  they  have 
had  not  much  opportunity  of  proving  themselves. 

* '  General  wages,  it  is  hoped,  will  no-t  seriously  drop 
from  their  present  rates.  It  will  become  difficult  to 
maintain  them  artificially;  on  the  other  hand  the  stand- 
ards of  living  must  be  maintained  by  every  effort  which 
those  who  are  leading  in  any  way  in  this  country  can 
use.  As  far  as  we  are  concerned  we  shall  make  no 
reductions  in  wages  or  salaries  in  this  store. 

''There  has  thus  far  been  no  important  relaxation 
in  the  control  of  raw  material.  Certain  things  liave 
been  released  and  we  expect  this  relaxation  to  come 
very  quickly ;  I  cannot  discover  that  there  is  any  seri- 
ous desire  on  the  part  of  the  government  to  maintain 
the  control,  except  perhaps  in  the  matter  of  wool  and 
where  the  distribution  of  the  raw  material  must  be 
safeguarded  by  the  state  and  where  manufacturers 
must  be  safeguarded  for  preventing  in  any  way  any 


170  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

profiteering.  The  business  men  of  Great  Britain  liave 
as  a  very  general  rule  been  splendidly  patriotic  and  un- 
selfish, thinking  during  the  past  four  years  or  so  that 
the  great  thing  was  to  win  the  war  rather  than  that 
their  individual  selves  should  be  protected. 

*'The  impression  that  I  would  convey,  if  I  were 
speaking  to  the  merchants  and  business  men  of  Amer- 
ica, is  that  the  spirit  of  the  business  men  of  Great 
Britain  is  right.  The  present  condition  of  mind  is  as 
one  would  like  to  see  it — in  the  direction  of  reasonable- 
ness, good  judgment  and  the  safeguarding  of  the  state ; 
and  the  more  we  men  of  business  recognize  that  each 
one  of  our  institutions,  or  businesses,  or  whatever  we 
choose  to  call  them,  is  one  of  the  assets  of  the  state, 
then  the  more  nearly  do  we  bring  our  occupation  called 
business  into  the  line  of  a  profession,  using  the  word 
profession  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  term. 

''Every  merchant  is  asking  himself.  What  about 
business  for  the  coming  months  and  years  ?  Prophecy 
is  unsatisfactory  work,  but  we  have  concluded  that  we 
shall  push  business  with  utmost  effort  and  energy;  that 
we  shall  work  harder  than  ever  to  adopt  new  ideas." 

Sir  Stephenson  Kent,  one  of  the  big  industrial  lead- 
ers and  employers  in  England,  is  in  charge  of  the  in- 
dustrial demobilization  work.  During  the  war  his  con- 
ferences with  American  employers  and  labor  groups 
were  among  the  most  helpful  in  bringing  to  light  the 
size  of  the  job  we  had  in  hand.  Here  is  his  view  of  the 
British  situation: 

*'In  making  any  statement  about  the  industrial  situ- 
ation in  England  it  is  inevitable  that  difficulties  should 
be  dwelt  upon.  The  problems  with  which  we  are  faced 
are  obvious ;  solutions  are  often  obscure  or  only  half- 


AS  THE  BRITISH  EMPLOYER  SEES  IT      171 

revealed.  But  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  infer  that  be- 
cause perplexities  abound  the  outlook  depresses.  The 
tasks  and  dangers  confronting  us  at  the  beginning  of 
the  war  were  of  far  greater  magnitude.  Nevertheless, 
though  prophets  of  evil  were  not  wanting,  the  tasks 
have  been  performed  and  the  dangers  overcome.  Thus 
the  great  experience  of  the  recent  past  justifies  us  in 
turning  our  faces  to  the  future  in  a  spirit  of  reasonable 
optimism. 

''It  is  not  easy  to  define  briefly  the  mutual  attitude 
of  employer  and  workman  during  the  war.  The  com- 
plicating factor  was  the  interposition  of  a  third  party — 
the  state.  The  improved  terms  granted  by  employers 
— vastly  higher  wages,  shorter  hours,  improved  wel- 
fare conditions — may  be  attributed,  justly  no  doubt,  in 
part  to  the  overriding  necessity  of  stimulating  output ; 
in  part  to  the  assistance  given  by  the  state  to  employers 
who  initiated  welfare  work  in  their  factories;  and  in 
part  to  the  power  of  employers  to  recoup  themselves 
for  the  grant  of  higher  wages  by  the  adjustment  of 
their  contract  prices.  The  workers  in  pressing  for 
such  improvements  as  I  have  indicated,  as  well  as  a 
share  in  factory  management,  have  no  doubt  been 
influenced  by  the  bigh  price  of  food,  the  spectacle  of 
profiteering  in  some  quarters,  and  apprehensions  for 
their  post-war  future  owing  to  the  transformation  of 
mechanical  methods  and  the  inrush  of  semiskilled  men 
and  women  into  the  highly  skilled  crafts. 

''But  it  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  conclude  that  the 
workers  have  been  influenced  merely  by  self-interest 
and  that  the  employers  have  made  only  those  conces- 
sions for  which  they  could  procure  an  equivalent  from 
the  state.     Behind  all  these  superficial  indications  of 


172  managem?:nt  and  mi:n 

interested  feeling  there  has  undoubtedly  been  on  both 
sides  a  conscious  working  for  a  great  common  end, 
which  even  divergent  interests  have  not  been  able  to  ob- 
scure. Employers — by  assenting  to  a  national  scheme 
for  the  periodic  revision  of  wages  in  various  industries, 
by  conceding  greatly  reduced  hours  of  work,  by  agree- 
ing in  many  cases  to  the  shop-committee  system  and  in 
some  leading  instances  strongly  promoting  it,  and  by 
doing  what  they  could  amid  the  rapid  turmoil  of  enor- 
mous war  production  to  humanize  the  conditions  of 
factory  life — have  displayed  a  spirit  of  humanity  and 
quickness  to  appreciate  the  lessons  taught  by  the  con- 
centrated industrial  experience  of  the  last  four  years. 
Again,  the  hard,  willing,  devoted  work  of  the  millions 
engaged  on  the  output  of  munitions  can  be  appreciated 
only  by  those  who  have  been  able  to  study  it  at  close 
range;  but  as  strikes  which  have  occurred  may  have 
attracted  attention  disproportionate  to  their  relative 
significance  it  is  worth  pointing  out  here  that  notwith- 
standing the  reactions  of  war  strain  the  time  lost 
through  trade  disputes  during  the  period  of  the  war 
has  been  an  exceedingly  small  fraction  of  the  whole 
working  time. 

''As  to  how  far  the  better  elements  of  feeling  and 
practical  experience  produced  in  the  atmosphere  of 
war  will  be  solidified  and  made  permanent  in  the  less 
acutely  idealistic  days  of  peace,  much  will  depend  upon 
the  whole  commercial  position  after  the  coming  period 
of  transition.  Prophecies  are  out  of  the  question. 
The  most  hopeful  prospect  lies  in  developing  the  spirit 
of  mutual  respect  and  understanding  between  employ- 
ers and  their  workers  to  which  I  have  already  made 
reference.     Bring   parties    with    competing   interests 


AS  THE  BRITISH  EMPLOYER  SEES  IT      173 

round  the  same  table,  let  them  ventilate  their  differ- 
ences freely  face  to  face,  and  we  may  look  for  an 
atmosphere  in  which  fair-minded  accommodation  be- 
comes possible. 

"It  is  with  that  goal  in  view  that  the  government  is 
actively  promoting  the  Whitley  scheme  of  joint  indus- 
trial councils,  supplemented  by  industrial-reconstruc- 
tion committees  linking  up  with  the  work  of  the  trade 
boards  and  existing  representative  joint  bodies.  It  is 
also  maintaining  trade-union  advisory  committees  at 
the  headquarters  of  government  departments,  as  well 
as  local-labor  advisory  committees  to  assist  in  decen- 
tralized administration. 

"It  may  still  be  possible  to  discern  a  really  acute 
difference  between  the  aims  of  even  'good'  employers 
and  'good'  workmen.  The  employers  realize  that  high 
wages  and  attractive  conditions  are  necessary  to  pro- 
duce contented  workers,  but  they  claim  that  increased 
output  is  an  indispensable  accompaniment  of  these. 
On  the  other  hand  the  worker  is  apt  to  suspect  in  sug- 
gestions of  payment  by  results,  in  scientific  manage- 
ment and  in  efficiency  methods  an  attack  on  collective 
bargaining  and  the  menace  of  considerable  unemploy- 
ment. The  workers  ask  not  only  for  comfort  in  the 
present  but  security  for  the  future,  and  for  some 
measure  of  control  of  the  industry  in  which  they  are 
concerned.  It  is  in  this  general  situation  that  the  pro- 
motion of  direct  negotiation  and  joint  action  as  between 
the  employing  and  employed  classes  is  seen  to  be  of  the 
first  importance. 

"Apart  from  labor  questions  perhaps  the  greatest 
problem  facing  British  industry  at  present  from  the 
employer's  point  of  view  is  the  fact  that  while  on  the 


174  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

one  hand  the  costs  of  raw  materials  and  of  production 
are  very  high  there  is  on  the  other  hand  apprehension 
that  prices  of  manufactured  articles  may  fall  heavily. 
As  a  consequence,  though  the  need  of  the  world  for 
manufactured  articles  has  never  been  greater  and 
masses  of  orders  are  waiting  to  be  placed,  manufac- 
turers in  many  cases  are  hanging  back. 

^'The  questions  of  the  readaptation  of  plant  and  of 
taxation  are  also  factors  in  the  internal  situation, 
while,  looking  to  the  outside,  the  recovery  of  markets 
and  trade  connections  is  an  issue  of  prime  urgency. 
From  a  narrowly  national  standpoint — such  a  stand- 
point as  might  have  seemed  natural  before  we  had 
all  learned  the  lessons  of  the  great  war — it  might  be 
said  that  America  is  not  specially  interested  and  con- 
cerned in  our  solving  these  problems  of  ours.  But 
these  are  not  pre-war  days  and  I  think  that  perhaps 
in  America  as  well  as  in  England  we  shall  try  to  sur- 
vey things  in  a  more  comprehensive  and  generous 
spirit.  No  doubt  labor  policies  in  England  and  i\-mer- 
ica  must  sooner  or  later  follow  the  same  broad  lines. 
Interchange  of  views,  experience  and  experiments 
should  be  of  great  interest  and  value  to  both  countries. 

''It  may  be  said  that  industry  tends  toward  inter- 
nationalization and  that  the  international  relations  of 
labor  are  only  less  close  than  those  of  capital.  A  de- 
mand is  springing  up  in  all  countries — and  not  only  on 
the  side  of  labor — for  an  international  code  of  indus- 
try: a  flexible  code,  susceptible  of  local  modifications, 
which  would  remove  some  of  the  local  fears  with  which 
employers  listen  to  the  demands  of  labor.  Employers 
in  any  one  country  are  deterred  from  making  such 
concessions  by  fear  of  foreign  competition.    This  may 


AS  THE  BRITISH  EMPLOYER  SEES  IT      175 

or  may  not  be  a  valid  argument,  but  it  would  clearly  be 
advantageous  to  all  parties  to  reconstruct  the  founda- 
tions of  industrial  life  in  such  a  way  as  to  restore  the 
confidence  which  is  now  so  often  lacking  among  the 
three  partners  in  the  world's  work — employers,  em- 
ployed and  the  state. 

*'It  is  not  for  England  to  teach  America.  England 
and  America  are  fellow  learners  in  the  school  of  world 
experience.  We  may  exchange  thoughts,  ideas,  sug- 
gestions and  records  to  our  mutual  and  lasting  advan- 
tage, but  one  would  hesitate  a  long  time  before  assum- 
ing a  didactic  attitude  on  any  of  the  subjects  I  have 
touched  upon.  Closer  and  more  frequent  consultation 
would,  I  think,  be  very  desirable,  and  possibly  we  may 
in  the  future  see  conferences  taking  place  periodically 
between  the  Departments  of  Labor  of  the  United  King- 
dom and  the  United  States. 

''Nothing  but  good  can  come  from  exchange  of  ideas 
and  experience,  and  I  look  forward  to  the  day  when 
such  questions  as  hours  of  the  working  week  will  be  a 
matter  of  international  discussion  governed  by  inter- 
national experience  and  by  international  demand.  Se- 
curity of  employment  and  certainty  of  market  should 
be  our  goal,  and  only  by  international  discussions  and 
agreements  shall  we  be  able  to  achieve  our  common 
aim. ' ' 


CHAPTER  VI 

HOW    BRITISH    LABOR   SEES    IT 

EVERY  labor  question  in  Great  Britain  is  at  the 
same  time  a  political  question.  This  fact 
should  be  kept  in  mind  at  all  times  or  much  that  is  go- 
ing on  in  the  industrial  world  here  in  England  will  not 
be  fully  understood.  For  those  of  us  who  look  on  la- 
bor matters  from  the  American  point  of  view  this  ad- 
monition is  especially  necessary.  In  the  United  States 
the  labor  movement  and  all  its  particular  trade-union 
activities  may  be  said  to  be  a  complete  and  self-con- 
tained affair,  apart  from  the  currents  of  politics.  La- 
bor's program  is  never  merged  into  or  wholly  identi- 
fied with  that  of  the  existing  national  parties. 

There  is  a  sense,  of  course,  in  which  every  live  indus- 
trial topic  in  a  free  country  is  also  political  or  govern- 
mental. When  a  large  body  of  men  press  for  the  set- 
tlement of  any  question  or  the  adoption  of  certain 
measures,  department  heads,  legislatures,  governors, 
and  even  Presidents  may  be  moved  to  take  a  hand. 
Still  all  this,  with  us  at  any  rate,  is  more  or  less  acci- 
dental. It  is  not  supposed  to  be  the  business  of  our 
public  officials,  and  certainly  not  the  business  of  party 
chiefs,  to  engage  very  actively  in  framing  or  further- 
ing industrial  policies  for  the  labor  forces  of  the  coun- 
try. And  we  have  no  distinctive  party  comprised  of 
Labor  representatives  for  the  special  purpose  of  send- 
ing men  of  their  own  choosing  to  Congress  or  to  state 
legislatures. 

In  Great  Britain  the  line  of  separation  between  labor 

I7d 


HOW  BRITISH  LABOR  SEES  IT  177 

and  political  machinery  is  obliterated.  Questions  like 
the  eight-hour  day,  minimum  wage,  child  labor,  employ- 
ment of  women  and  collective  bargaining  are  not  merely 
subjects  for  discussion  between  employers  and  em- 
ployed or  between  trade  unions  and  employers'  asso- 
ciations ;  they  are  among  the  principal  concerns  of  the 
political  parties,  and  the  very  special  concern  of  one 
party  in  particular :  The  Labor  Party.^ 

The  promotion  of  specific  reforms  or  legislation  in 
which  the  manual  workers  are  interested  more  often 
takes  the  form  in  Great  Britain  of  political  than  of 
trade-union  action.  The  campaign  is  the  accepted  sub- 
stitute for  the  general  strike.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
both  forms  of  agitation,  industrial  and  political,  go  on 
simultaneously,  the  latter,  however,  excelling  in  vigor 
and  in  general  public  interest.  Parliamentary  action 
is  regarded  as  by  far  the  more  desirable  method  of 
getting  results,  the  strike  as  an  inferior  and  desperate 
resort. 

To  capture  Parliament — that  is,  to  win  a  majority  of 
seats  in  the  House  of  Commons — is  labor's  aim.  This 
done,  industrial  reconstruction  may  be  brought  about 
in  a  constitutional  way,  the  British  way.  And  when  a 
given  course  can  be  described  as  typically  British  the 
last  word  has  been  said  for  it. 

The  Labor  Party  is  as  characteristic  a  creation  of 
the  British  labor  movement  as  is  the  corresponding 
industrial  body,  the  Trades-Union  Congress.  Most  of 
the  trade  unions  of  the  country  are  affiliated  with  both, 
supply  the  bulk  of  the  funds  by  means  of  a  levy  upon 
their  local  treasuries  or  assessment  on  their  members, 
and  through  delegates  selected  for  the  purpose  they 

1  See  page  572,  The  Labor  Party  Constitution. 


178  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

direct  the  affairs  of  botli  tlie  Labor  I'arty  and  tlie 
Trades-Union  Congress. 

Strictly  speaking,  the  Labor  Party  is  not  a  political 
party  as  we  ordinarily  understand  it.  It  is,  in  fact,  a 
federation  of  labor  organizations,  plus  a  number  of 
socialist  societies,  plus  a  miscellaneous  alliance  of  trade 
councils,  professional  groups  and  a  sprinkling  of  men 
and  women — writers,  lecturers,  clergymen,  social 
workers,  ''intellectuals"  and  others — all  of  whom  com- 
bine, not  as  spokesmen  for  any  specific  interest  such  as 
mining,  teaching,  printing  or  the  like,  but  definitely  as 
labor  politicians. 

And  right  here  another  w'ord  of  explanation  is  in 
order.  The  term  politician  as  the  British  use  it  never 
carries  with  it  implications  of  the  sort  with  which  we 
are  unhappily  familiar.  You  don't  insult  anybody 
here  with  it.  You  merely  describe  an  interest  of  his, 
or  a  chief  occupation,  as  if  you  said  of  a  man  that  he 
is  a  doctor,  engineer,  journalist  or  soldier. 

Parliament,  as  I  have  mentioned,  is  the  goal  of  the 
Labor  Party's  efforts;  the  majority  of  the  party's  rep- 
resentatives in  the  House  of  Commons  have  always 
been  trade-union  leaders.  There  have  been  times  when 
men  not  members  of  unions  have  sat  in  the  House  as  the 
party's  spokesmen;  because  of  their  work  for  the  party 
or  for  the  labor  movement  in  general  the}'  were  taken 
into  the  fold,  given  a  place  in  the  party's  councils,  and 
backed  as  the  party's  candidates  in  an  election.  In  the 
general  election  held  last  December  not  one  of  this  out- 
side group  won.  Every  man  of  the  sixty  who  were 
elected  on  the  Labor  Party  ticket  holds  some  trade- 
union  office  or  is  directly  connected  with  some  labor 
organization. 


HOW  BRITISH  LABOR  SEES  IT  179 

The  newspapers  were  not  slow  in  seizing  on  this 
result  the  moment  the  figures  were  known.  "Labor 
Cleans  House,"  "Loyal  Labor  Wins,"  "Pacifism 
Down  and  Out" — these  are  among  the  milder  headlines 
by  which  the  country  was  apprised  of  the  verdict. 
There  can  be  no  question  as  to  what  the  five  million 
and  more  voters — women  were  among  them  for  the 
first  time — had  in  mind  when  they  gave  victory  to  the 
banners  of  Mr.  Lloyd  George  and  his  ticket.  Much 
more  even  than  the  men  the  women  seem  to  have  made 
loyalty  to  the  country  their  acid  test  in  casting  their 
first  vote ;  and  rightly  or  wrongly  they  singled  out  can- 
didates on  the  basis  of  this  simple  test  for  slaughter  or 
success.  Only  a  deliberateness  of  selection  such  as 
this  can  explain  the  apparently  overwhelming  victory 
of  the  Prime  Minister.  The  country  decided  to  stand 
by  the  present  government,  which  had  conducted  the 
war  to  a  successful  conclusion,  and  to  return  only  those 
Labor  candidates  whose  record  left  no  doubt  as  to 
their  position  throughout  the  war  and  their  intention 
as  regards  the  fate  of  its  instigators.  This  much  is 
clear,  for  all  the  hubbub  of  explanation  and  commen- 
tary. 

But  what  the  headlines  and  first  impressions  failed  to 
show  was  the  very  important  fact  that  the  aggregate 
difference  in  the  votes  between  the  winning  and  the 
losing  parties  was  not  more  than  half  a  million,  a  slen- 
der enough  margin,  though,  as  I  have  said,  by  no  means 
controverting  the  decisiveness  of  the  verdict. 

To  understand  how  labor  views  the  immediate  future 
in  Britain,  what  its  policies  are  and  are  likely  to  be,  we 
must  go  behind  the  returns  and  see  just  what  did  hap- 
pen in  the  election.     The  topic  is  as  full  of  life  to-day 


180  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

as  it  was  in  December;  in  fact,  much  more  so.  Labor 
has  its  own  idea  as  to  what  the  verdict  of  the  election 
meant,  and  it  is  proceeding  to  carry  out  in  a  pretty 
definite  way  the  mandate  that  it  believes  the  country 
has  given  it. 

In  the  United  States  our  habit  on  the  morning  after 
election  is  to  let  bygones  be  bygones  and  forget  poli- 
tics, unless  we  have  some  personal  interest  or  cause  at 
stake,  until  the  open  season  is  on  again.  It  is  quite 
the  other  way  here ;  especially  so  with  the  Labor  forces, 
which  just  at  present  are  unusually  busy.  And  labor, 
or  Labor,  is  on  the  map  these  days,  politically  speak- 
ing; also  industrially  and  internationally  speaking. 

In  the  British  labor  movement  there  have  been  cycles 
of  interest  and  of  indifference  as  regards  mixing  labor 
and  politics.  For  a  long  time  there  was  opposition  to 
labor's  going  out  of  its  regular  trade-action  course  in 
order  to  obtain  conditions  or  concessions  that  it  de- 
manded. At  the  present  moment  the  pendulum  has 
swung  in  the  direction  of  great  hopes,  though  some- 
what modified  by  the  poorer  election  showing  than  was 
expected — hopes  of  controlling  Parliament  in  the  near 
future  and  setting  up  a  Labor  government  for  the 
United  Kingdom. 

In  1900  the  fusion  of  trade-union  and  socialist  forces 
resulted  in  the  birth  of  the  Labor  Party.  From  that 
time  forward  the  political  growth  of  labor  has  pro- 
ceeded apace.  In  1906  twenty-nine  out  of  fifty  candi- 
dates on  the  Labor  ticket  captured  seats  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  formed  themselves  into  a  parliamentary 
party  with  their  own  whips  and  officers,  and  launched 
the  Labor  Party  as  a  going  concern  and  political  con- 


HOW  BRITISH  LABOR  SEES  IT  181 

testant.    In  1910  the  party  fighting  in  seventy-eight 
constituencies  carried  forty  of  them. 

Up  to  the  beginning  of  the  war  a  generally  compact, 
well-organized  group  of  trade-union  and  socialist  mem- 
bers in  the  House  of  Commons  worked  with  more  or 
less  internal  harmony  to  promote  industrial  measures, 
such  as  prevention  of  unemployment,  improvement  in 
factory  and  mining  conditions,  nationalization  of  min- 
eral resources,  and  the  protection  of  unions  against  re- 
strictions regarded  as  detrimental  to  the  interests  of 
labor.  The  war  immediately  worked  confusion  and 
disunity  in  the  ranks  of  political  labor.  The  partner- 
ship of  labor  and  socialist  groups  looked  to  be  at  an 
end.  Broadly  speaking  the  line  of  cleavage  between 
the  trade  unions  and  the  socialists  seemed  to  be  this : 
The  trade  unions  unhesitatingly  sprang  to  the  support 
of  the  government  in  its  move  against  the  German 
peril;  they  took  what  was  described  as  the  national, 
the  patriotic  viewpoint.  The  socialists,  on  the  other 
hand,  proclaimed  their  international  viewpoint,  which 
was  generally  branded  throughout  the  country  as  un- 
patriotic and  pro-German,  not  even  possessing  the 
crude  virtues  of  that  large  group  of  German  socialists 
who,  misled  or  coerced  into  believing  that  their  coun- 
try was  in  dangler,  stood  by  their  own  government. 

The  Asquith  Ministry  invited  the  coopera^tion  of 
the  trade-union  members  in  Parliament  and  appointed 
to  various  posts  men  like  Arthur  Henderson  of  the 
Iron-Founders;  Roberts  of  the  Typographical  Asso- 
ciation; and  Brace  of  the  Miners.  Later,  under  Mr. 
Lloyd  George,  other  trade-union  men  appeared  in 
large  numbers  as  government  officials.     CljTies,  the 


18;^  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Food  CoutroUcr,  belongs  to  the  Gas  Workers — now 
called  the  General  Workers  Union;  Hodge,  the  Pen- 
sion Minister,  to  the  Steel  Smelters;  and  Barnes,  the 
labor  member  of  the  War  Cabinet,  to  the  Engineers. 

While  the  trade-union  wing  of  the  party  increased 
and  strengthened  its  connection  with  the  war  admin- 
istration the  socialists  pursued  an  opposite  course, 
forming  an  aggressive  left  wing,  which  was  bitterly  as- 
sailed by  the  public  in  general  and  more  especially  by 
the  trade-union  leaders  of  the  party. 

Then  came  the  December,  1918,  election.  You  may 
buttonhole  a  dozen  different  individuals  and  the  cer- 
tainty is  that  you  will  get  about  as  many  individual 
explanations  as  to  what  the  general  election  in  Great 
Britain  really  signified.  You  will  soon  give  up  hope 
of  getting  anything  that  might  be  called  a  consensus 
of  opinion. 

Lloyd  George  fathered  and  headed  the  so-called 
Coalition  ticket.  The  Coalitionist  wdll  tell  you  that 
the  country  showed  that  it  wanted  the  Prime  Minister 
in  and  the  ''old  gang"  out.  The  veteran  Liberal 
maintains  that  the  people  have  been  pushed  off  their 
feet  by  a  forced  election,  sprung  when  nobody  was  look- 
ing and  when  there  was  no  real  issue  before  the  coun- 
try. Labor  asks  you  to  look  at  its  two  and  a  half 
million  votes,  with  two-thirds  of  the  soldiers  unable  to 
cast  their  ballot,  and  say  if  things  are  not  looking  up. 

There  is  no  question  that  labor  on  the  whole  expected 
a  larger  result,  though  the  gain  is, -as  we  shall  see,  one 
to  be  most  respectfully  considered.  Fewer  seats  were 
won  than  showed  in  the  prospect.  To  some  extent  la- 
bor campaigned  on  anticoalition  lines,  which  meant, 
for  all  practical  purposes,  anti-Lloyd  George.     Shortly 


HOW  BRITISH  LABOR  SEES  IT  183 

before  the  election  Labor  Party  delegates  in  an  all- 
day  conference  decided  to  withdraw  from  all  participa- 
tion in  the  Lloyd  George  administration.  This  act, 
coupled  with  the  fact  that  it  carried  among  its  candi- 
dates fifty  known  to  be  left-wing  ''radicals  and  paci- 
fists," placed  the  labor  campaign  under  very  obvious 
disadvantage  so  far  as  the  contest  before  the  country 
was  concerned. 

Nevertheless  the  Labor  Party  made  a  showing  which 
promises  to  make  it  the  principal  opposition  party  in 
the  next  Parliament,  a  role  full  of  interesting  possibili- 
ties. Only  about  half  of  the  total  electorate  went  to 
the  polls,  and  out  of  that  number  labor  secured  nearly 
one-quarter — that  is  to  say,  two  and  a  half  million 
votes  out  of  ten  million.  The  whole  of  the  left  social- 
ist wing  was  wiped  out.  There  were  sixty  labor  can- 
didates elected  out  of  the  361  in  the  field;  no  fewer 
than  twenty-eight  of  these  come  from  the  miners' 
unions ;  the  unskilled  workers  won  five  seats ;  shipbuild- 
ing and  other  crafts,  eleven. 

The  outstanding  fact  is  the  return  of  trade  union- 
ists and  the  defeat  of  all  others.  Mr.  Henderson's 
defeat  despite  his  war  record — the  loss  of  one  son  in 
action  and  the  service  in'  the  field  of  his  two  other 
sons — was  the  undoubted  result  of  a  misunderstand- 
ing of  his  loyalty  and  intense  desire  to  see  Prussianism 
destroyed. 

Now  one  reason  for  stressing  this  election  result  is 
its  bearing  on  the  international  drama  which  is  about 
to  open  both  in  the  Paris  Peace  Conference  and  in 
the  labor  conference  also  to  be  held  in  Paris. 

By  the  trade  unionists  just  elected  there  is  no  mis- 
apprehension as  to  the  country's  intentions  so  recently 


184  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

registered.  Women,  six  million  of  them,  newly  en- 
franchised, helped  to  emphasize  the  decision.  The 
country  has  swung  toward  the  right,  expressing  its 
determination  for  a  clean  finish  to  the  war  job,  still 
incomplete.  There  is  no  escaping  that  conclusion, 
whichever  way  the  figures  are  studied,  and  whatever 
may  be  one's  personal  feeling  as  to  the  justice  or  in- 
justice meted  out  in  the  case  of  sundry  unsuccessful 
candidates.  Where  there  were  290  Conservatives  in 
the  old  House  of  Commons  there  are  well  over  390  in 
the  new  House.  The  Liberal  Party  has  been  squeezed 
out  of  existence,  and  though  the  Labor  Party  repre- 
sentation has  greatly  increased  its  strength  it  is  dis- 
tinctly more  conservative  or  moderate  in  complexion 
than  it  was  with  its  mixture  of  right  and  left  wings  in 
the  House. 

On  the  last  Saturday  night  in  December,  when  the  re- 
turns showed  how  the  country  had  voted,  a  discomfited 
candidate  declared :  "The  people  have  not  been  heard 
from  yet." 

His  friend  quietly  rejoined:  **WelI,  there  must 
have  been  a  few  people  among  that  five  million  which 
went  Coalition." 

Mr.  Clynes  judged  the  situation  more  wisely.  "Of 
course  we  accept  the  verdict  of  the  poll,"  he  said. 
"Labor  needs  no  other  weapon  to  secure  its  ends. 
The  masses  of  wage  earners  form  the  greater  part  of 
the  electorate,  and  there  is  no  change  in  our  social  or- 
der, no  economic  alteration  which  organized  workers 
desire  which  they  could  not  obtain  from  the  floor  of 
the  House  of  Commons  if  they  preferred  to  send  their 
representatives  in  large  enough  numbers. 

"Labor,  as  we  desire  to  see  it,  should  stand  for  or- 


HOW  BRITISH  LABOR  SEES  IT  186 

der;  it  should  stand  for  the  law,  because  the  time  may 
come  when  labor  may  have  to  make  the  law;  and  if 
labor  wishes  to  see  that  example  followed  labor  must 
not  hesitate  to  set  the  example.  The  verdict  of  the 
poll  for  the  time  being  is  a  verdict  which  labor  men 
should  accept,  and  I  protest  against  these  open  in- 
vitations to  the  wage  earners  to  use  the  weapon  of  the 
strike  and  seek  to  menace  either  the  public  or  Parlia- 
ment with  the  threat  that  men  will  come  out  in  the 
street  and  leave  the  workshops  because  the  men  have 
not  been  returned  to  the  House  of  Commons.  I  do 
not  think  that  any  labor  man  at  any  time  need  fear 
the  loss  of  anything  worth  having  by  indulging  in  a 
little  candor.  Certainly,  it  is  more  than  possible  that 
in  the  early  years  to  come  public  confidence  in  the 
capacity  of  labor  to  legislate  will  increase.  I  hope  to 
see  the  unity,  which  in  such  large  degree  was  shown 
among  all  classes  for  the  purposes  of  the  war,  continue 
for  the  purposes  of  peace  and  for  the  attainment  of 
mutual  benefit  in  the  future." 

Doubtless  the  words  I  have  just  quoted  represent 
what  may  be  called  the  normal  view  of  labor,  both  as 
regards  the  election  and  the  spirit  in  which  the  in- 
dustrial policies  of  the  near  future  are  to  be  framed. 
And  yet  it  must  be  pointed  out  that  from  a  survey  of 
the  labor  viewpoint  the  present  position  is  both  satis- 
factory and  unsatisfactory.  Labor  has  strengthened 
its  position  in  the  House  of  Commons.  This  is  clear 
enough.  But  it  has  not  strengthened  it  in  any  rea- 
sonable proportion  to  the  increase  of  its  voting  power 
in  the  country.  That  means  that  what  may  not  incon- 
ceivably be  a  dangerous  situation  has  been  created. 
Labor  has  made  up  its  mind  that  certain  reforms  shall 


186  MANAGEMENT  AM)  Mi:\ 

bocomo  law,  and  that  its  voice  in  the  affairs  of  the  na- 
tion shall  be  effective  in  the  carrying  out  of  tliese  re- 
forms. It  is  committed  to  the  carrying  out  of  these 
reforms.  It  is  committed  to  the  constitutional  method 
— a  large  portion  of  labor  is.  Another  section  shows 
impatience  with  this  legal  procedure.  They  advocate 
direct  action,  the  weapon  of  the  strike  and  industrial 
paralysis. 

On  the  present  moderate  group  in  the  House  will  fall 
the  burden  of  demonstrating  the  parliamentary  ad- 
vantage in  fighting,  for  example,  for  a  general  eight- 
hour  day.  During  the  election  strong  labor  leaders 
said  that  an  effective  Labor  Party  inside  the  House  was 
the  surest  guaranty  against  outbreaks  of  Bolshevism 
outside.     They  have  now  to  make  their  claim  good. 

What  may  be  expected  to  happen?  That  depends 
on  two  or  three  uncertain  factors ;  on  whether,  for  ex- 
ample, Mr.  Lloyd  George  holds  his  followers  or  parts 
company  with  them.  On  the  face  of  it  the  Prime  Min- 
ister's position  is  impregnable,  for  he  will  have  behind 
him  five-sixths  of  the  House  of  Commons.  The  Prime 
Minister's  pace  is  somewhat  faster  than  is  usual  to 
some  of  his  supporters,  and  he  may  decline  to  slow 
down  or  they  to  speed  up.  Such  a  development  may 
arise,  particularly  when  questions  like  land  national- 
ization come  to  be  tackled. 

An  early  approach  by  the  government  to  the  most 
urgent  social-reform  problems  is  certainly  to  be  looked 
for,  with  the  qualified  support  of  all  parties  in  the 
House.  The  Labor  Party  will  support  such  reforms 
in  principle,  but  urge  that  they  be  made  more  sweep- 
ing. How  far  the  Prime  Minister's  majority  will  go 
with  him  is  but  guesswork  at  present.     But  the  Prime 


HOW  BRITISH  LABOR  SEES  IT  187 

Minister's  words  the  other  day  have  a  special  sig- 
nificance— if  the  government  did  not  do  its  best  to  ful- 
fil the  promises  made  he  would  no  longer  be  the  head 
of  the  government,  but  would  go  back  to  the  people  and 
ask  for  a  renewal  of  their  confidence. 

On  a  good  many  questions  the  labor  members  may 
find  themselves  very  largely  at  one  with  the  govern- 
ment. On  others  they  are  sure  not  to  be.  In  such  a 
matter  as  railway  nationalization,  for  example,  dif- 
ferences are  certain  to  arise  on  at  least  two  points. 
The  first  will  be  on  the  issue  whether  the  state  shall 
acquire  the  railways  or  control  their  management,  as 
it  has  done  throughout  the  war.  There  are  a  number 
of  railroad  directors  in  the  House  of  Commons  who 
will  resist  state  ownership  and  stand  out  for  control 
exercised  through  commissions.  Labor  will  be  in  solid 
opposition  to  any  such  proposal.  It  is  out  for  full 
ownership,  and  demands,  moreover,  representation  for 
the  workers  in  the  management. 

The  Prime  Minister  has  pledged  himself  to  full  na- 
tionalization of  the  railroads.  But  then  will  come  the 
second  battle — on  the  question  of  the  price  to  be  paid 
to  the  present  stockholders.  Proposals  that  touch 
men's  pockets  are  apt  to  be  looked  at  from  different 
angles. 

That  is  one  example  of  the  differences  that  are  bound 
to  arise  between  labor  and  the  government  all  along 
the  line.  They  will  arise  beyond  any  question  on  the 
first  budget  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  presents, 
for  labor  is  pledged  to  the  proposition  of  a  tax  on 
capital — a  proposition  which  the  whole  Conservative 
Party  will  fight  to  the  death.  On  Ireland  there  can  be 
little  agreement.     Tariff  questions  will  not  produce 


188  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

quite  so  acute  a  division,  for  labor  is  not  solid  on  this 
matter.  On  tariffs,  however,  the  official  labor  policy 
is  to  press  for  a  system  of  international  industrial 
legislation  which  will  make  measures  for  the  shutting 
out  of  "dumped"  goods  unnecessary.  That  policy  is 
to  be  pushed  at  the  Paris  Labor  Conference. 

But  the  question  on  which  the  most  serious  attention 
is  fixed  is  whether  there  will  or  will  not  be  a  manifesta- 
tion of  what  is  known  as  "direct"  action — that  is  to 
say,  strikes  and  violence — as  a  means  of  enforcing  the 
will  of  labor.  All  the  responsible  labor  leaders  have 
denounced  such  action  repeatedly  and  emphatically. 
Mr.  Henderson  has  condemned  the  suggestion  again 
and  again.  So  has  Mr.  J.  H.  Thomas.  So  has  Mr. 
Clynes.  Practically  the  whole  of  the  sixty  labor  mem- 
bers just  returned  to  Parliament  would  be  against  it. 
But  that  does  not  wholly  dispose  of  the  danger.  The 
recent  election,  as  Mr.  Ramsay  MacDonald  declared 
amid  a  thunder  of  cheers  at  one  Albert  Hall  meeting, 
is  an  open  incentive  to  direct  action.  A  volume  of 
votes  that  should  have  given  labor  170  seats  in  the 
House  of  Commons  has,  by  the  chances  of  the  ballot 
box,  given  it  sixty,  and  those  sixty  are  ranged  against 
a  solid  majority  that  constitutes  the  Prime  Minister 
an  unchallenged  dictator  if  he  chooses  to  use  his  power 
in  that  way.  Certain  sections  of  labor  are  taking  the 
view  that  since  the  road  of  political  action  is  barred 
against  them  the  only  hope  left  is  to  tr)^  some  other. 

Bolshevism,  however  that  term  is  interpreted,  has 
taken  firm  root  nowhere  in  Great  Britain.  In  1917, 
when  the  Soviets  in  Russia  were  in  the  first  flush  of 
their  career,  a  great  labor  conference  w^as  held  at  Leeds 
with  the  object  of  establishing  a  system  of  workers' 


HOW  BRITISH  LABOR  SEES  IT  189 

and  soldiers'  councils  throughout  Great  Britain.  The 
conference  had  little  support  from  the  moderate  men  in 
the  labor  movement  and  it  left  no  permanent  result 
behind  it  at  all. 

But  though  there  is  no  Bolshevism  in  Britain  to- 
day that  does  not  mean  that  the  recurring  symptoms 
of  Bolshevism  can  be  ignored.  The  madness  that  has 
made  havoc  of  Russia  has  a  tendency  to  blow  westward. 
It  may  stop  at  the  Rhine,  but  it  will  not  stop  even  at 
the  North  Sea  if  unwisely  dealt  with. 

For  that  kind  of  manifestation  two  or  three  danger 
spots  have  to  be  noted.  One  is  the  South  Wales  min- 
ing valleys;  another  is  the  shipyards  of  the  Clyde; 
another  the  machine  shops  in  the  Midlands.  There 
are  signs  and  omens  on  the  Clyde  and  elsewhere  to 
which  all  those  who  are  qualified  to  judge  attach  im- 
portance. Bolshevism  may  or  may  not  increase ;  that 
will  be  determined  largely  on  industrial  grounds.  If 
demobilization  is  w^ell  organized,  employment  is  good, 
wages  are  high  and  management  open-minded,  there 
wdll  be  no  serious  fears  of  grave  labor  troubles.  But 
if  there  is  any  breakdown  in  the  restarting  of  industry, 
if  there  is  cause  for  knots  of  unemployed  to  gather  at 
street  comers  and  organize  red-flag  processions,  Brit- 
ish ministers  may  find  themselves  faced  with  about  as 
big  a  problem  as  the  war  itself. 

One  vital  factor  in  the  situation  is  the  worker's  real- 
ization of  his  place  in  industry.  That  is  true  to-day 
as  it  has  never  been  true  before.  Hitherto  the  poten- 
tiality of  power  has  been  there,  but  it  could  never  be 
realized  for  lack  of  efficient  organization.  The  labor 
movement  has  passed  beyond  that  point  now.  Just 
before  the  war  broke  out  a  huge  trade-union  merger 


190  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

was  effected.  An  amalgamation  was  carried  out  bring- 
ing into  one  association  the  federated  unions  of  the 
miners,  the  railwaymen  and  the  transport  workers — 
carters,  dockers,  tramwaymen  and  others — through- 
out the  kingdom.  This  ** Triple  Alliance,"  as  it  is 
termed,  embraces  something  like  a  million  and  a  quarter 
workers. 

It  cannot  be  forgotten  that  there  has  been  some  fore- 
taste, even  during  the  war,  of  drastic  labor  action. 
Last  November  a  big  labor  demonstration  was  to  be 
held  at  the  Albert  Hall,  London's  largest  auditorium. 
When  everything  had  been  arranged  the  trustees  of 
the  hall  canceled  the  contract  on  the  ground  that  "no 
revolutionary  sentiments  would  be  encouraged." 

The  organizers  of  the  meeting  appealed  to  a  certain 
government  department.  The  department  said  it  could 
not  interfere  in  the  matter. 

At  this  point  the  electricians'  trade  union  heard  what 
was  happening.  They  forthwith  cut  off  all  the  electric 
light  in  the  hall  while  a  big  concert  was  in  progress. 
That  was  only  a  beginning.  The  second  step  was  to 
see  that  all  the  trains  on  the  L^nderground  Railway 
passed  the  stations  serving  the  Albert  Hall  without 
stopping,  and  the  third  to  arrange  that  no  omnibus 
and  no  taxicab  should  put  down  passengers  any^vhere 
within  a  mile  of  the  hall.  There  was  no  need  to  carry 
these  latter  projects  into  effect,  for  the  government 
department  that  had  been  unable  to  interfere  got  busy. 
The  trustees  were  told  they  had  got  to  carry  out  their 
contract,  and  the  end  of  the  affair  was  that  instead 
of  one  labor  demonstration  two  were  held,  on  succes- 
sive evenings.  There  was  an  element  of  British  good 
humor  in  the  situation  that  kept  ever>^body  cheerful, 


HOW  BRITISH  LABOR  SEES  IT  191 

but  no  one  who  had  any  knowledge  of  the  situation  was 
blind  to  the  significance  of  such  an  incident. 

At  present,  as  has  been  said,  the  sky  is  fairly  clear, 
and  if  there  is  a  disposition  to  meet  labor's  program 
fairly  there  is  no  reason  why  it  should  not  remain  clear. 
But  the  situation  is  emphatically  not  one  that  lends 
itself  to  bungling  or  insincerities. 

With  the  end  of  the  war  there  came  a  revival  of  in- 
terest in  the  idea  of  labor  internationalism.  Labor 
is  naturally  anxious  to  bring  the  full  weight  of  its  in- 
fluence to  bear  upon  the  making  of  peace  and  intends 
to  present  to  the  Peace  Congress  a  comprehensive 
statement  of  its  view  upon  the  problems  of  the  settle- 
ment. 

Labor  asks  in  the  first  place  for  direct  representa- 
tion in  the  official  Peace  Congress,  but  is  not  likely  to 
get  it  in  the  form  for  which  it  asked.  It  is  probable, 
however,  that  labor  will  be  represented  in  the  Indus- 
trial Commission  which  this  country  is  expected  to  set 
up  in  connection  with  the  Peace  Congress,  as  it  has 
done  already  with  the  establishment  of  a  League  of 
Nations  section  under  the  chairmanship  of  Lord  Rob- 
ert Cecil,  Its  appointment  is  an  earnest  on  the  gov- 
ernment side  that  labor  questions  will  receive  a  proper 
share  of  attention  in  the  Peace  Congress.  Both  the 
British  and  the  French  Governments  have  shown  a 
disposition  to  consult  organized  labor  on  the  question 
of  international  labor  legislation,  and  even  seem  pre- 
pared to  associate  labor  representatives  with  their  own 
plenipotentiaries  in  preparing  proposals  for  submis- 
sion to  the  Peace  Congress.  The  Paris  conference  is 
intended  to  focus  labor  opinion  on  the  problem  of  peace, 
especially  upon  two  points  in  regard  to  which  labor  is 


192  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

extremely  aiixioua  to  make  its  inlluence  felt.  One 
point  is  the  formulating  of  a  charter  of  international 
labor  legislation.  Henderson,  the  leader  of  British  la- 
bor, who  is  chiefly  responsible  for  the  promotion  of  the 
conference,  has  stated  in  the  course  of  the  last  few 
days  the  labor  view  on  this  matter  as  follows : 

"Labor's  view  is  that  the  adoption  of  the  charter  of 
international  labor  legislation  which  it  will  be  the  task 
of  the  conference  to  formulate  is  one  of  the  necessary 
safeguards  of  future  peace.  Economic  antagonisms 
between  nations,  unfair  competition  in  trade,  all  help 
to  intensify  national  jealousies  and  sow  the  seeds  of 
war.  The  way  to  deal  with  this  problem  is  to  work  for 
an  approximate  equality  of  conditions  in  all  countries 
and  to  maintain  these  conditions  by  the  authority  and 
influence  of  the  League  of  Nations." 

These  are  the  ideas  with  which  labor  men  approach 
the  question  of  peace.  The  purpose  of  the  coming 
conference  is  to  give  effect  to  labor's  conception  of  a 
satisfactory  settlement  of  the  war.  In  this  confer- 
ence all  the  working-class  organizations  of  the  several 
countries  will  be  represented.  It  will  probably  sit  in 
two  sections :  A  trades-union  conference  composed  of 
representatives  from  national  bodies  like  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor,  the  Confederation  Generale  du 
Travail,  the  British  Trades  Union  Congress,  possibly 
also  the  British  General  Federation  of  Trade  Unions, 
and  other  bodies  from  Scandinavia,  Belgium  and  else- 
where ;  and  a  political  section  of  the  conference,  organ- 
ized to  some  extent  on  the  basis  of  the  old  Interna- 
national  Socialist  Bureau.  Joint  sessions  are  to  be 
arranged  between  the  industrial  and  political  sections 
in  order  to  compare  notes  and  present  a  common  pro- 


HOW  BRITISH  LABOR  SEES  IT  193 

gram  to  the  Peace  Congress.  Together  the  two  groups 
or  sections  will  produce  a  program  of  international 
labor  legislation  which  the  Peace  Congress  will  be  in- 
vited to  incorporate  in  the  Peace  Treaty,  and  will  sug- 
gest machinery  for  maintaining  and  extending  these 
international  provisions  in  connection  with  the  League 
of  Nations.  The  program  has  yet  to  be  worked  out. 
What  is  in  the  minds  of  the  leaders  is  first  of  all  pro- 
tection for  the  women  and  children  in  industry,  meas- 
ures against  sweating,  and  the  limitation  of  hours  of 
work,  and  factory  legislation  for  the  protection  of  the 
workers  generally  under  international  auspices. 
What  is  expected  to  result  from  the  discussions  upon 
this  phase  of  the  peace  problem  is  some  form  of  in- 
ternational machinery  for  purposes  of  supervision 
and  control,  in  connection  with  the  League  of  Nations, 
over  the  national  industries. 

It  is  obvious  that  labor  attaches  to  the  League  of 
Nations  power  to  deal  with  questions  not  usually  re- 
garded as  coming  within  its  scope.  Ultimately,  it  is 
evident,  labor  expects  to  see  the  league  become  the 
great  authority  in  the  world,  dealing  not  only  with 
political  matters  and  questions  of  foreign  policy  but 
with  economic  problems  and  the  trade  relations  of  one 
country  with  another  and  the  world  at  large. 

In  any  international  program  or  body  representa- 
tive of  labor  forces  the  dominating  influences  will 
doubtless  be  the  British  and  the  American  contingents. 
The  purposes  and  the  organization  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor  are  well  known,  the  policy  thus 
far  pursued  being  one  of  straight  trade-union  activity, 
free  from  national  political  affiliations. 

In  Britain,  on  the  other  hand,  the  labor  forces  al- 


194.  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

ways  present  a  dual  cliaracter,  as  we  liave  seen — the 
political  and  the  industrial.  There  is  no  such  simplic- 
ity either  of  purpose  or  of  organization  so  character 
istic  of  the  American  labor  niovciiicnt,  and  because  of 
this  fact  there  is  a  good  deal  of  bewilderment  in  the 
mind  of  the  average  onlooker  here;  one  is  never  sure 
of  unanimity,  never  sure  that  the  pronouncement  of 
one  group  one  day  will  not  be  offset  by  the  counter 
manifesto  of  other  groups  on  succeeding  days. 

The  truth  is  that  there  are  several  labor  movements 
in  Great  Britain,  held  together  by  the  slenderest  of 
threads  and  presenting  a  united  front  mainly  for  the 
accomplishment  of  specific  ends.  All  the  while  these 
movements  and  forces  are  contending  for  mastery. 
To  be  sure,  one's  reliance  is  always  on  the  trusted  and 
tried  leaders,  who  represent  the  prevailing  moderate 
spirit  of  the  British  worker  and  the  tendency  of  most 
people  here  to  seek  to  win  whatever  ends  they  have 
in  view  through  constitutional  methods. 

But  an  appreciation  of  labor's  view  of  the  indus- 
trial future  in  the  country,  and  of  its  coming  activities 
in  the  larger  arena  of  European  politics  and  industrial 
policy,  requires  a  brief  explanation  of  what  the  Brit- 
ish labor  movement  really  is. 

The  total  trade-union  membership  of  the  country  is 
five  million  and  a  quarter.  The  General  Federation 
of  Trade  Unions  includes  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
unions  belonging  to  some  twenty  industries.  The 
more  important  unions  outside  of  this  federation  are 
the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers,  the  Miners' 
Federation  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  National  Union 
of  Railwaymen,  with  a  membership  of  more  than  a 
million  and  a  half. 


HOW  BRITISH  LABOR  SEES  IT  195 

The  General  Federation  is  an  industrial  body  look- 
ing after  purely  trade-organization  interests.  The 
Trades  Union  Congress,  with  a  more  complete  trade- 
union  representation,  is  the  general  forum  and  policy- 
declaring  body  for  the  labor  movement,  with  a  Parlia- 
mentary section,  in  which  matters  of  legislation  and 
relations  with  various  governmental  agencies  are  con- 
sidered. 

Within  the  unions  themselves  vital  differences  of 
opinion  prevail.  There  is  the  endless  contest  between 
organization  along  craft  lines  and  along  industrial 
lines.  The  question  of  labor  merged  into  larger  groups 
is  a  source  of  much  controversy;  and  finally  the  re- 
verse question  of  splitting  up  into  smaller  units,  such 
as  shop-steward  groups,  a  tendency  away  from  strong 
central  control,  constantly  threatens  the  stability  of 
the  bigger  unions. 

A  special  instance  of  the  movement  toward  large 
units  is  the  Triple  Industrial  Alliance  I  have  already 
mentioned,  of  the  National  Union  of  Railwaymen,  the 
Miners'  Federation  of  Great  Britain  and  The  Na- 
tional Transport  Workers'  Federation.  This  body  is 
designed  to  insure  joint  action  where  joint  interests 
are  concerned,  and  though  its  members  are  not  bound 
to  support  each  other  in  a  strike  it  is  planned  that  all 
members  should  be  informed  of  any  strike  which  is 
contemplated  and  all  should  then  discuss  the  desirabil- 
ity of  joint  action.  Here  is,  in  fact,  a  tentative  step 
toward  the  ''one  big  union";  and  though  its  power 
would  be  almost  invincible  if  joint  action  occurred  it 
shows  no  sign  of  absorbing  other  unions,  and  it  there- 
fore stands  outside  the  main  conflicts  of  the  trade- 
union  world  referred  to  above.     It  may  be  noted  that 


196  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

the  three  members  of  it  are  already  practically  in- 
dustrial unions  in  the  full  sense.  The  cotton  industry 
and  the  mining  industry  are  almost  unique  in  being  able 
to  draw  for  tlieir  officials  on  men  who  liavo  had  any 
kind  of  special  training.  In  the  cotton  industry  the 
complications  of  price  lists  has  led  to  the  appointment 
of  exports  in  every  district,  who  are  chosen  practically 
on  the  basis  of  a  competitive  examination.  In  the 
mining  industry  miners'  agents  and  check  weighers 
also  require  considerable  technical  knowledge  beyond 
that  of  mere  industrial  skill. 

This  is  perhaps  the  reason  why  the  organization  in 
these  two  industries  has  been  so  complete  and  effective. 
Again,  in  the  mining  industry  certain  districts,  in  par- 
ticular South  Wales  and  Lanarkshire,  have  shown  a 
tendency  in  their  industrial  organization  to  adopt  ex- 
tremist leaders  and  to  press  on  the  national  organiza- 
tion an  extreme  industrial  program.  The  fact  that  in 
both  South  Wales  and  Lanarkshire  conditions  of  life 
are  exceptionally  bad  is  probably  more  than  a  coinci- 
dence, and  though  certain  propagandist  efforts  cannot 
be  left  out  of  account  the  evil  conditions  which  made 
these  districts  a  fertile  field  for  agitation  must  be  con- 
sidered as  one,  at  least,  of  the  factors  in  their  irrecon- 
cilable attitude. 

To  sum  up,  therefore,  labor  industrially  is  repre- 
sented by  a  very  complicated  set  of  organizations. 
There  is  a  tendency  in  them  toward  larger  units,  but 
there  are  forces  which  tell  powerfully  against  it  and 
which  at  least  will  make  it  a  slow  process.  There  is 
a  weakness  in  the  lack  of  trained  administrative  of- 
ficials and  there  is  a  grave  danger  in  the  overcentral- 
ization  of  the  machinery  of  many  of  the  big  unions. 


HOW  BRITISH  LABOR  SEES  IT  197 

There  is,  in  brief,  a  lack  of  cohesion  in  the  movement 
as  a  whole,  even  on  questions  of  purely  trade-union 
policy. 

These  weaknesses  are  not  new.  They  were,  in  fact, 
inevitable  in  the  condition  in  which  trade  unions  took 
their  birth  and  grew  to  their  present  stature.  For 
that  reason  there  have  been  those  periods  during  which 
industrial  labor  has  oscillated  between  the  two  methods 
of  attaining  its  ends — the  industrial  and  the  political. 
A  perfect  industrial  organization  would  be  supreme  at 
all  times  but  the  weaknesses  of  imperfect  organization 
gave  success  to  the  industrial  struggle  only  when  other 
circumstances  were  favorable  to  its  ends.  When,  how- 
ever, such  conditions  told  against  it  and  its  efforts 
resulted  in  failure  there  was  a  natural  reaction  toward 
those  who  insisted  that  greater  results  might  be  ob- 
tained by  the  political  method.  The  story  of  labor  in 
this  country  may  be  regarded  on  the  broadest  lines  as 
falling  into  three  stages,  of  which  two  are  complete. 
It  had  first  to  fight  for  the  right  to  organize.  Only 
a  short  time  ago  trade  unions  were  illegal  associations, 
and  leaders  of  such  illegal  movements  were  liable  to 
deportation  and  were  actually  deported  for  their  ac- 
tivities. When  the  right  to  organize  had  been  gained, 
the  next  step  was  to  organize  up  and  down  the  land. 
The  legal  position  of  a  trade  union  is  still  a  somewhat 
indefinite  thing.  But  it  may  be  said  that  substantially 
trade  unions  have  a  large  measure  of  freedom.  Now 
that  that  freedom  has  been  gained,  the  next  stage,  of 
which  we  have  seen  only  the  beginning,  is  the  stage  in 
wliich  the  masses  are  groping  for  the  effective  control 
of  industrial  power. 

Labor's  organization  has  grown   out  of  a  myriad 


198  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

scattered  organizations,  each  jealous  of  its  own  rights ; 
its  political  machinery  is  based  on  the  acceptance  of 
candidates  by  an  afTiliatod  union  or  other  afTiliated  body 
and  by  the  local  organization  of  the  party.  These  con- 
siderations once  more  emphasize  the  importance  of 
continually  bearing  in  mind  the  dual  organization  of 
hibor,  tlie  two  phases,  industrial  and  political,  which 
continually  react,  neither  of  which  can  be  appreciated 
without  a  consideration  of  the  other. 

A  word  must  be  said  concerning  connections  with 
organized  labor  outside  the  United  Kingdom.  Here 
again  the  two  phases  of  industrial  and  political  organ- 
ization are  apparent.  Industrially,  international  or- 
ganization has  not  yet  become  of  much  importance. 
International  organization  exists  in  some  thirty-two 
British  trades  or  crafts,  of  which  the  most  important 
are  the  International  Miners'  Federation  and  the  In- 
ternational Textile  Workers'  Federation.  Besides 
these  there  is  the  general  body  known  as  the  Interna- 
tional Federation  of  Trade  Unions,  which  covers 
twenty-one  countries,  including  practically  all  those  in 
which  there  is  a  trade-union  movement.  The  func- 
tions of  tliis  body  are  mainly  confined  to  the  holding 
of  an  annual  conference  and  to  an  attempt  to  arrange 
for  an  interchange  of  industrial  information  between 
the  organized  workers  of  the  various  countries.  It  has 
also  attempted  to  produce  a  uniform  set  of  labor  sta- 
tistics, though  without  much  success.  Great  Britain 
is  represented  on  it  by  the  General  Federation  of  Trade 
Unions,  which,  as  has  been  seen,  covers  only  a  portion 
of  the  organized  \vorkers  in  the  kingdom  and  does  not 
include  some  of  the  biggest  and  most  powerful  unions. 
It  seems  possible,  however,  tliat  this  body  may  gain 


HOW  BRITISH  LABOR  SEES  IT  199 

a  new  importance  and  may  wield  more  practical  in- 
fluence in  the  future  if,  as  is  anticipated,  international 
labor  legislation  becomes  a  regular  function  of  a 
League  of  Nations. 

The  political  organization  of  labor  internationally  is 
of  much  greater  importance.  The  origin  of  the  Inter- 
national was  due  to  Karl  Marx,  and  it  is  interesting 
to  remember  that  its  genesis  took  place  in  London  in 
1864,  though  it  is  only  since  1889  that  regular  meetings 
have  been  held  and  it  was  in  1900  that  was  formed  the 
permanent  body  known  as  the  International  Socialist 
Bureau.  The  connection  between  the  bureau  and  the 
labor  and  socialist  organizations  of  Great  Britain 
is  secured  by  a  joint  committee  known  as  the 
British  section  of  the  International  Socialist  Bu- 
reau. This  body  consists  of  five  delegates  from 
the  Labor  Party:  two  from  the  Independent  Labor 
Party,  two  from  the  British  Socialist  Party  and 
one  from  the  Fabian  Society,  together  with  the  three 
British  delegates  to  the  central  body.  The  apparent 
collapse  of  the  whole  international  movement  when 
faced  with  the  outbreak  of  a  European  war  can  easily 
be  exaggerated;  strong  common  elements  on  which  it 
could  be  rebuilt  subsisted,  except  in  the  case  of  the 
Germans ;  and  the  efforts  which  were  made  from  time 
to  time  to  secure  its  resurrection  have  not  been  without 
their  effect. 

Many  circumstances  now  continue  to  secure  for  it  a 
new  and  more  promising  future,  though  it  has  also  to 
face  new  difficulties.  On  the  one  hand  there  is  Mie 
increasing  feeling  of  solidarity  among  the  workers  of 
the  various  nations,  on  the  other  the  sharper  differ- 
ences among  the  labor  and  socialist  bodies;  and  just 


f>()()  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

as  the  Labor  Party  in  Great  Britain  has  had  to  find 
a  working  arrangement  with  the  industrial  organiza- 
tion, so  too  the  International  on  the  question  of  inter- 
national labor  legislation  will  have  to  secure  coopera- 
tion with  the  International  Trade-Union  Federation. 
In  Great  Britain  the  coordination  was  easy  since  the 
personnel,  industrial  and  political,  is  so  largely  the 
same.  Internationally  there  is  greater  divergence, 
and  the  great  labor  movement  of  America,  though 
represented  on  the  International  Trade-Union  Federa- 
tion, has  not  so  far  a  separate  political  organization, 
and  if  it  had  it  would  probably  find  the  atmosphere  of 
the  International  much  too  extreme.  Hence  the  In- 
ternational will  find  it  difficult  to  secure  a  real  coher- 
ence on  industrial  matters. 

A  much  more  serious  difficulty  in  the  w^ay  of  inter- 
national solidarity  is  the  split  within  the  national  or- 
ganizations as  regards  the  attitude  toward  the  Eussian 
Bolsheviki  and  their  claims  to  represent  the  Russian 
people.  So  far  as  this  country  is  concerned,  its  ver- 
dict is  on  record.  The  moderate  and  dominant  sec- 
tions of  the  labor  movement,  opposed  to  anarchy,  have 
carried  the  day,  and  credentials  from  Bolshevist 
sources  will  be  most  critically  examined.  It  is  the  con- 
viction of  more  than  one  leader  here  that  the  greatest 
menace  to  the  success  of  the  Russian  Revolution  has 
been  the  terrorists  who  seized  the  reins,  kept  the  people 
in  check  by  a  liberal  sprinkling  of  funds  and  machine 
guns,  and  who  have  no  hope  of  remaining  in  control 
except  as  they  can  duplicate  the  Russian  chaos,  de- 
struction of  industry  and  capture  of  all  labor  organiza- 
tions in  other  countries.  Hope  lies  in  the  solid  centre 
bloc  typified  by  men  like  J.  H.  Thomas  and  Clynes  and 


HOW  BRITISH  LABOR  SEES  IT  201 

Henderson.  The  lurking  danger  lies  in  the  smaller 
revolutionary  bodies,  often  fortunate  in  clever  political 
leadership,  and  their  power  to  exploit  industrial  fric- 
tion or  political  discontent. 

The  danger  of  revolution  is,  however  small,  never 
negligible.  At  a  time  when  the  apparently  unassail- 
able autocracy  of  Russia  has  crumbled  away,  when 
Europe  almost  from  end  to  end  is  in  chaos,  it  is  no 
longer  safe  to  regard  even  the  soundest  of  systems  as 
exempt  from  assault.  The  revolutionary  spirit  is 
abroad  and  the  international  organization  of  labor 
provides  numerous  channels  for  its  transference  here 
if  circumstances  not  now  apparent  make  British  labor 
a  suitable  host  for  infection. 

It  is  necessary  to  point  out  briefly  what  are  the 
characteristics  of  the  labor  movement  in  Europe.  In 
France  we  have  again  the  duality  of  an  industrial  and 
a  political  movement.  The  Confederation  Generale 
du  Travail  is  the  industrial  organization  and  the  Parti 
Socialiste  the  political.  Both  are  small,  measured  by 
membership — about  600,000  in  the  case  of  the  C.  G.  T., 
and  60,000  in  the  case  of  the  Parti — but  their  influence 
and  importance  are  not  to  be  gaged  in  this  way.  The 
Socialist  Party,  for  example,  obtained  102  seats  in  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies,  the  total  number  of  deputies  be- 
ing 602.  Besides  the  102  members  of  the  Socialist 
Party  there  are  thirty  ''Independent"  Socialist  depu- 
ties. 

Both  organizations — that  is,  the  Parti  and  the  C.  G. 
T. — represent  broadly  the  same  point  of  view.  This 
year  arrangements  have  been  made  for  the  closer  union 
of  the  two  organizations  and  for  better  cooperation  in 
their  joint  aims.     The  political  movement  differs  from 


202  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

tlie  British  labor  movement,  however,  most  character- 
istically in  the  nature  of  its  leadership  and  in  its 
theory.  It  is  essentially  doctrinaire,  its  leaders  "in- 
tellectuals," with  a  distinct  philosophic  bent  in  their 
writings  and  propaganda;  its  general  policy  and  atti- 
tude are  in  this  country  regarded  as  extreme. 

The  Italian  labor  movement  is  in  outline  very  sim- 
ilar to  the  French.  On  the  industrial  side  is  the  Con- 
federazione  Generale  de  Lavoro,  and  on  the  political, 
the  Socialist  Party.  Political  unity  is  not  so  marked 
as  in  the  case  of  France,  and  during  the  war  the  gov- 
ernment received  support  from  some  elements  of  the 
extreme  left  as  well  as  from  the  right.  The  general 
tendencies  in  both  the  industrial  and  political  move- 
ments, however,  a-rfe  very  extreme,  more  so  even  than 
of  the  French,  and  approximate  closely  to  those  of 
the  Socialist  Labor  Party  in  England. 

In  Norway  and  Sweden  the  radical  movement  is 
strong  and  is  in  close  alliance  with  the  labor  organiza- 
tions. Having  been  subjected  to  Bolshevik  propa- 
ganda it  has  become  more  extreme  and  may  develop 
dangerously  in  spite  of  the  moderation  of  its  best- 
known  leaders,  such  as  Branting.  The  movement  has 
also  gained  ground  in  Denmark. 

Eecent  events  in  Holland  have  served  to  bring  into 
prominence  the  divisions  of  the  movement — a  right 
group,  the  center,  and  the  party  generally,  led  by 
Troelstra;  and  the  left  or  extremist  wing — and  have 
given  some  indication  of  its  aims  and  strength.  The 
revolutionary  movement  commanded  the  adhesion  of 
only  a  minority  of  the  workers ;  had  Troelstra  not  been 
so  sure  of  his  victoiy  as  to  announce  publicly  when 
the  revolution  w^ould  begin  the  revolutionaries  might 


HOW  BRITISH  LABOR  SEES  IT  203 

have  been  temporarily  successful  in  a  coup  d'etat.  As 
it  was,  the  result  was  an  overwhelming  demonstration 
of  loyalty  to  the  constitution  and  the  Queen. 

The  labor  organizations  themselves  can  claim  to 
have  been  the  first  to  direct  attention  to  the  necessity 
for  international  labor  legislation,  and  recently  in 
England,  France,  Italy,  the  Scandinavian  countries 
and  in  Belgium  they  have  either  urged  in  general  or 
indicated  in  detail  the  problems  to  be  tackled — the  right 
of  trade-union  combination,  the  restriction  of  danger- 
ous trades,  the  provision  of  holidays  and  leisure,  in- 
surance; the  regulation  of  the  employment  of  juvenile 
and  female  labor  and  so  on.  The  practical  accomplish- 
ment of  the  international  regulation  of  these,  and  of 
humane  conditions  of  industry  in  general,  means  an 
infinite  accumulation  of  detailed  knowledge;  and  none 
is  better  fitted  by  experience  and  by  interest  to  assist 
in  its  collection  and  to  interpret  it  for  the  guidance 
of  legislatures  than  is  organized  labor.  If,  therefore, 
this  problem  is  tackled  by  a  League  Of  Nations  as  one 
of  its  essential  functions,  one  at  least  of  the  main 
present  mistrusts  of  labor  will  have  been  removed. 
Moderate  labor  leaders  in  all  the  European  countries 
will  be  able  to  strengthen  their  position  by  the  solid 
argument  of  something  done. 

There  is  one  final  factor  which  cannot  be  left  out  of 
account,  and  that  is  Russia.  It  should  be  first  of  all 
noted  that  Russia — or  at  all  events  the  Bolshevik  ele- 
ments which  now  control  it — has  no  place  or  function 
in  the  securing  of  better  industrial  conditions  by  means 
of  international  legislation.  The  Bolshevik  theory 
does  not  allow  of  any  compromise  with  existing  govern- 
ment or  of  any  action  which  would  involve  any  recogni- 


201-  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

tioii  of  its  rii^hts.  International  legislation  or  agree- 
ment binding  the  individual  states  to  place  certain  re- 
strictions on  industry  is  something  to  which  Russian 
representatives  could  not  subscribe,  since  in  their  po- 
litical and  industrial  system  the  employer  or  manage- 
ment as  we  know  it  does  not  exist.  It  is  not,  therefore, 
in  this  practical  field  that  Russian  influence  may  be  felt. 

Its  importance  lies  in  its  determined  propaganda,  the 
destructiveness  of  which  it  would  be  fatal  to  underesti- 
mate. 

All  parties,  political  or  industrial,  are  striving  to- 
ward ideals  which  even  their  most  fervid  adherents 
admit  are  incapable  of  attainment  except  by  slow 
progress.  Their  policy  is  to  make  that  progress  as 
rapidly  as  possible,  but  step  by  step.  Even  the  so- 
cialistic theory  of  Marx  looked  to  an  evolution  in 
which  industrialism  must  live  its  full  life — and  collapse 
eventually.  It  was  in  fact  this  argument  which  the 
majority  socialists  in  Germany  employed  to  fortify 
their  support  of  German  imperialism  during  the  war, 
urging  that  the  sooner  Germany  reached  the  dominant 
position  to  which  she  was  undoubtedly  progressing, 
the  sooner  would  capitalism  have  run  its  course;  and 
in  the  face  of  this  universal  doctrine  of  slow  evolution 
— toward  whatever  end — the  extremist  who  demanded 
a  sudden  overthrow  of  industrial  organization  at  one 
blow  laid  himself  open  to  the  charge  of  the  maddest 
unreason. 

Bolshevism  in  Russia,  however,  has  persuaded  a  cer- 
tain type  of  mind  that  the  apparently  impossible  can 
be  done,  and  that  the  results,  good  or  ill,  can  be  sus- 
tained. Adherents  of  extreme  doctrines  are  doubting 
now  whether  they  should  not  revise  their  ideas  as  to 


HOW  BRITISH  LABOR  SEES  IT  205 

the  means  by  which  their  ideals  can  be  attained,  and 
this  attitude  of  doubt  is  fertile  soil  for  Bolshevik  prop- 
aganda. In  England,  where  most  of  the  leaders  of 
labor  are  hard-headed  men  from  the  industries,  not 
prone  to  vague  enthusiasms,  there  is  naturally  a  ten- 
dency to  judge  by  results  and  to  refuse  to  be  stam- 
peded into  support  of  the  Bolshevik  method  or  end, 
with  news  daily  flowing  into  England  of  atrocities, 
famine  and  industrial  chaos  in  Russia.  But  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  the  declared  intention  of  the 
Bolshevik  Government  is  to  secure  international  rev- 
olution, and  that  it  is  led  by  men  who  are  experts 
trained  for  the  purpose.  They  count  it  a  gain  to  split 
any  movement,  provided  one  section  be  more  extreme 
than  the  original  was  as  a  whole. 

He  would  be  a  wizard  indeed  who  attempted  to  chart 
or  predict  the  course  of  industrial  events  for  the 
months  to  come.  There  is  still  too  much  confusion; 
our  knowledge  of  the  situation  in  various  countries  is 
too  incomplete  for  any  clear  indication  of  the  direction 
in  which  the  discordant  forces  covered  by  the  phrases 
''labor  movement"  and  "labor  viewpoint"  are  mov- 
ing. We  are  certain  of  the  course  that  American 
labor  will  pursue  both  in  its  home  and  its  international 
policy.  Behind  Mr.  Gompers  and  his  colleagues  there 
stands  a  solid  body  of  trade-union  opinion  and  sup- 
port, the  fruit  of  years  of  growth  and  experience. 

Back  of  the  elected  leaders  and  spokesmen  of  the 
British  labor  forces  there  is  a  powerful  body  of  mod- 
erate, typically  British  workers  who  will  resist  to  the 
utmost  any  excursions  into  unknown  fields  of  industrial 
experimenting  at  the  expense  of  a  movement  which 
took  a  century  of  struggle  to  bring  to  its  present  stage. 


206  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

(^oo])erating  with  tliesu  Torces  for  constructive  meth- 
ods are  the  most  respected  employers  and  managers, 
and  a  body  of  public  opinion  favorable  to  the  cause  of 
labor's  advance. 

Britain  and  America  will  no  doubt  have  more  to  do 
with  shaping  the  course  of  events  in  Europe  than  all 
other  countries  combined.  But  the  path  of  labor's 
representatives  from  the  English-speaking  countries 
will  not  be  an  easy  one.  Plans  or  traps,  as  one  may 
choose  to  view  them,  have  been  laid  for  the  capture  of 
the  delegations.  Rumors  wall  soon  fly  thick;  propa- 
gandists are  on  the  job;  nothing  will  be  overlooked  that 
may  give  the  impression  in  Great  Britain  and  in  Amer- 
ica that  trusted  leaders  have  succumbed  to  the  pro- 
jects of  upheaval.  But  Continental  Europe  will  find 
that  neither  British  nor  American  representatives  are 
novices.  Labor  in  both  countries  not  only  looks  for- 
ward to  a  peace  period  marked  by  orderly  progress  in 
industrial  relations  but  is  especially  impressed  by  the 
tremendous  importance  of  maintaining  industr>^  in- 
tact in  order  to  save  the  victims  of  Europe 's  industrial 
chaos. 

That  a  new  international  note  is  coming  into  the 
English-speaking  labor  world  is  obvious.  There  is 
a  tendency  to  regard  the  results  of  the  recent  general 
election  as  a  condemnation  of  international  entangle- 
ment. To  the  extent  that  such  entanglement  imports 
an  alien  spirit  into  labor  policy  and  implies  a  disre- 
gard of  natural  typical  loyalties  of  the  people  there 
were  indeed  both  condemnation  and  repudiation. 

Yet  even  during  the  war  British  labor  kept  alive  the 
idea  of  international  labor  relations  through  the  inter- 


HOW  BRITISH  LABOR  SEES  IT  207 

allied  conferences,  which  were  held  in  London  in  1915, 
1917  and  1918.  At  these  conferences  labor's  views  on 
the  meaning  of  the  world  war  and  its  solutions  of  the 
problems  raised  by  it  were  set  forth  in  the  well-known 
Memorandum  of  War  xVims. 

Summing  up  the  labor  viewpoint  and  situation  in 
G-reat  Britain  I  should  say  that  the  outstanding  event 
that  will  make  the  year  1919  a  landmark  in  these  mat- 
ters is  the  definite  emergence  of  the  Labor  Party  as 
the  government's  chief  alternative  and  opposition 
party.  It  is  the  old  labor  party  enlarged  and  definitely 
reconstituted. 

About  a  year  ago  the  party  constitution  was  changed 
in  order  to  strengthen  the  membership  and  give  it 
greater  weight  in  political  life.  One  innovation  was 
the  formal  recognition  of  the  interest  of  "all  pro- 
ducers by  hand  or  brain."  Unlike  Bolshevists,  the 
Labor  Party  does  not  regard  the  industrial  organizer, 
specialist  and  manager  as  anathema.  He  is  an  in- 
dispensable factor  in  production,  unless,  as  in  Russia, 
industry  is  to  be  reduced  to  primitive  conditions  of 
barter.  It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  lately  Lenine  has 
been  pleading  with  his  coadjutors  to  entice  the  fugitive 
employers  and  managers  back  by  most  extravagant 
sums  of  money,  in  order  to  resurrect  the  dead  in- 
dustries of  his  country. 

The  present  leaders  of  the  Labor  Party  are  clear- 
headed patriotic  men,  with  experience  in  building  up 
and  with  a  keen  industrial  sense.  Backed  by  the 
strong  Trades-Union  Congress,  which  recently  sig- 
nalized its  fiftieth  birthday  by  sending  a  message  of 
congratulation  to  the  Forces,  the  prospects  on  which 


208  MANACIEMENT  AND  MEN 

ilie  majority  of  the  labor  forces  base  their  hopes  arc 
good.  It  is  not  conceivable  that  the  present  govern- 
ment will  disappoint  these  hopes. 

Signs  point  to  a  far-reaching  program  of  national 
reforms  on  which  labor,  government  and  thinking  em- 
ployers will  unite.  The  keynote  is:  "Make  Britain 
a  good  country  to  live  in;  its  industries  fit  places  to 
work  in." 


APPENDIX  A 

WITH    ILLUSTBATIVE    MATEEIAL 

LABOR'S  STATEMENT 

ON 

THE  HOUSING  PROBLEM  AFTER  THE  WAR 

THE   EXTREME    URGENCY 

On  no  subject — not  even  that  of  demobilization — is  it  so  urgent 
that  Parliament  and  the  Government  should  come  to  a  decision  of 
policy  as  on  housing.  Once  a  decision  has  been  come  to  with  re- 
gard to  the  method  of  demobilizing  the  Army,  or  with  regard  to  the 
transfer  of  the  3,000,000  munition  workers  to  productive  employ- 
ment, there  need  be  no  delay  in  carrying  out  the  decision.  But 
houses  do  not  become  instantly  ready  for  occupation  on  the  Gov- 
ernment giving  the  order.  Many  months  must  necessarily  elapse 
between  the  decision  to  provide  dwellings  and  the  entry  of  the 
families  into  these  new  homes.  It  is  emphatically  a  matter  for  the 
present  War  Cabinet  within  the  next  few  weeks.  If  the  Labor 
Party  is  unable  to  get  the  Government  to  decide  its  housing  policy 
many  months  in  advance  of  peace,  the  new  houses  will  not  be  in 
existence  for  the  soldiers  to  return  to. 

THE   EXTENT   OP   THE   SHORTAGE 

What  creates  the  urgency  is,  in  most  parts  of  Great  Britain  and 
in  Dublin  and  Belfast,  the  appalling  shortage  of  houses  for  the  wage 
earners,  and  the  consequent  overcrowding,  notwithstanding  the  tem- 
porary absence  of  5,000,000  men  in  the  Army  and  Navy.  This 
shortage  is  due  to  three  causes — 

(a)  We  were  already  overcrowded  ten  years  ago.  No  family, 
large  or  small,  ought  anywhere  to  be  living  more  than  two  persons 
to  a  room — yet  the  census  of  1901  showed  that,  in  England  and 
Wales  alone,  there  were  then  no  fewer  than  2,667,506  persons  living 
(in  tenements  of  one  to  four  rooms)  more  than  two  to  a  room.  In 
the  southern  half  of  Scotland  and  in  some  parts  of  Ireland  (nota- 
bly Dublin  and  Belfast)  conditions  were  even  worse.     In  Glasgow, 

209 


210  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

for  example,  where  every  room  in  the  artisan's  house  is  used  as 
a  bed-room,  no  less  than  55.7  per  cent,  of  the  whole  population  were 
living  more  than  two  persons  to  a  room,  and  27.9  per  cent,  actually 
more  than  three  persons  to  a  room.  Overcrowding  is  even  worse 
nniongst  the  iiictal  workers  and  miners  of  Coatbridge,  where  more 
than  three-fourtlis  of  the  poi)uIation  (7G.7  [)er  cent.)  were  living 
in  one  and  two-roomed  houses;  nearly  half  (45  per  cent.)  were 
living  more  than  three  persons  to  a  room;  and  71.2  per  cent,  more 
than  two  persons  to  a  room.  There  was  thus  already  in  1901,  a 
shortage  of  many  hundred  thousand  rooms;  and  the  80,000  new 
working-class  dwellings  that  were  then  being  put  up  annually  did  no 
more  than  keep  pace  with  the  increase  of  population. 

(b)  The  si)eculative  builder  gradually  gave  up  the  building  of 
working-class  cottages  and  tenements;  and  from  1907  onward  the 
number  of  new  houses  built  to  let  at  less  than  10s.  per  week  rapidly 
declined,  and  (including  all  municipal,  rural  landlord,  and  philan- 
thropic building)  it  has  latterly,  taking  the  country  as  a  whole, 
year  by  year  fallen  far  short  of  the  annual  increase  of  population. 
Thus  the  shortage  in  all  the  districts  in  which  the  population  has 
been  increasing  became  acute. 

(c)  During  the  three  years  of  war  all  such  building  (except  in 
about  a  dozen  "munition  areas,"  specially  subsidized  by  the  Gov- 
ernment)  has  ceased — it  has,  in  fact,  been  prohibited. 

The  result  is  that,  in  nearly  all  the  towns  of  Great  Britain,  as 
also  in  Dublin  and  Belfast,  in  all  the  mining  districts,  and  in  nearly 
all  the  agricultural  areas  of  England  and  Wales,  and  in  parts  of 
Scotland  the  overcrowding  has  become  intensified.  Even  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Local  Government  Board  for  England  and  Wales  (Mr. 
Hayes  Fisher),  when  acting  as  Parlimentary  Secretary,  was  driven 
to  estimate  the  deficiency  of  working-class  cottages  and  flats  at 
half-a-million.  This  is  well  below  the  truth.  Including  Scotland 
and  Ireland,  at  least  1,000,000  new  dwellings,  to  be  let  at  not  more 
than  a  few  shillings  a  week,  according  to  size,  are  urgently  required. 

WHAT    WILL    HAPPEN    WHEN    THE    RENT    RESTRICTION    ACT    EXPIRES? 

At  present  (although  the  Act  is  often  evaded)  landlords  are  pre- 
vented from  raising  rents  above  the  pre-war  figure  by  the  Restric- 
tion of  Rent  and  Mortgages  Act.  These  landlords  complain  that 
the  Act  is  depriving  them  of  several  million  pounds  a  year  of  in- 
come. It  is  due  to  expire  six  months  after  peace  is  proclaimed. 
Unless  something  is  done  there  will  then  be,  in  many  towns,  and 
in  many   mining   and  agricultural  districts,   a  bouud  up   in   rents. 


APPENDIX  A  211 

sometimes  of  as  much  as  5s.  a  week !  Such  a  rise,  just  in  the  midst 
of  the  industrial  dislocation  caused  by  the  discharge  of  half  the  en- 
tire wage-earning  class  from  the  munition  works  and  the  Army, 
would  cause  the  most  severe  distress. 

Of  course,  the  Rent  Restriction  Act  might,  by  a  new  Statute,  be 
continued  in  force.  But  the  Act  cannot  be  continued  indefinitely. 
The  only  way  to  prevent  "scarcity  rents"  is  to  get  the  requisite  mil- 
lion new  dwellings  actually  ready  for  occupation. 

WHO   IS    TO   BUILD   THE    NEV^   COTTAGES? 

The  times  will  be  bad  for  speculative  building;  all  materials  will 
continue  dear  for  years  to  come ;  loans  of  capital  will  be  hard  to  get, 
and  the  rate  of  interest  will  remain  high.  If  speculative  builders 
found  no  profit  in  putting  up  working-class  dwellings  before  the 
war,  it  is  plain  that  they  will  be  quite  unable  to  do  so  under  the 
more  adverse  conditions  that  will  now  prevail.  We  cannot  possibly 
allow  grants  of  public  money  to  private  builders.  Cooperative  so- 
cieties will  find  it  equally  impossible  to  build  without  loss.  We 
cannot  rely  on  philanthropic  landowners  and  charitable  trusts  for 
more  than  a  trifling  proportion  of  the  need.  What  are  called  "pub- 
lic utility  societies"  (in  which  the  shareholders  content  themselves 
with  5  per  cent,  dividends)  cannot  now  operate  without  subsidies 
from  public  funds. 

It  seems  clear  that  no  one  but  the  municipalities  and  the  National 
Government  can  possibly  shoulder  the  task  of  building  1,000,000 
new  rural  and  urban  dwellings — 5,000,000  additional  rooms — which 
may  cost  at  the  high  prices  that  will  prevail,  at  least  £250,000,000. 

THE  GOVERNMENT  POLICY 

The  duty  of  providing  houses  for  the  people  is  at  present  placed 
on  the  local  authorities  (Town  and  District  Councils;  in  London  the 
L.  C.  C.  and  Metropolitan  Borough  Councils;  in  Scotland  the 
Burgh  Councils),  which  have  very  large  powers  under  the  Housing 
Acts.  But  the  Councilors  (who  often  have  houses  of  their  own 
to  let)  are  usually  unwilling  to  proceed  at  all;  they  are  very  much 
afraid  of  any  charge  on  the  rates;  and  they  never  decide  to  make 
anything  like  an  adequate  increase  in  the  number  of  dwellings  avail- 
able for  wage-earning  families.  In  face  of  the  high  prices  for  ma- 
terials and  the  increased  rate  of  interest  for  loans  no  local  authority 
can  nowadays  put  up  working-class  dwellings  of  any  kind — any 
more  than  the  speculative  builder  can — otherwise  than  with  a  heavy 


212  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

miruial    (Iclicit,    wliicli    would    hfcorric   a   change   on    tho   rates.     No 
local  aulliority  will  incur  this  loss. 

The  Govcrmiicnt  accordingly  adopted  the  policy  (announced  in 
the  House  of  Commons  27th  November,  1914)  of  a  P>ee  Grant  from 
the  Exchequer  (in  addition  to  loans  at  cost  price)  of  such  a  propor- 
tion of  the  cost  of  each  housing  scheme  by  a  local  authority  as 
would  enable  the  local  authority  to  charge  the  customary  rents  and 
yet  avoid  loss.  As  publicly  declared  by  Lord  Khondda,  this  is  still 
the  Government  ])oIicy,  but  during  the  war  it  has  been  put  in  opera- 
tion only  in  al)out  a  dozen  "munition  areas"  where  additional  houses 
were  most  urgently  required.  In  these  eases  the  Free  Grant  from 
the  Exchequer  has  been,  on  an  average,  about  20  per  cent,  of  the 
total  cost.  In  no  other  way  could  the  Government  get  these  houses 
built.  It  is  plain  that,  after  the  war,  there  will,  equally,  be  no  other 
way. 

What  we  have  to  secure  is  that  the  absolutely  necessary  1,000,000 
new  dwellings  shall  be  built,  where  they  are  wanted,  of  the  kind  that 
is  wanted,  as  soon  as  they  are  wanted.  The  rate  at  which  the  whole 
1,000,000  can  be  put  up  must  depend  on  the  materials  and  labor 
being  available.  But  assuming  that  sufficient  materials  can  be  pro- 
vided, and  that  men  of  the  building  trades  would  otherwise  be  un- 
employed, the  whole  1,000,000  new  bouses  ought  to  be  completed 
within  four  years  from  the  declaration  of  peace.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered that,  after  the  war,  the  population  of  the  United  Kingdom 
will  be  fully  as  large  as  it  was  before  the  war.  Great  as  have  been 
the  losses  by  war,  they  are  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  almost 
complete  stoppage  of  emigration  during  the  war.  Emigration  will 
doubtless  begin  again  when  peace  comes,  but  it  is  very  doubtful 
whether  it  will  at  once  assume  its  former  proportions.  Hence  we 
shall  still  be  needing  at  least  100,000  additional  new  houses  a  year, 
even  after  the  present  shortage  of  1,000,000  is  made  up,  as  long  as 
the  population  continues  to  increase  at  its  present  rate. 


WHAT  THE  GOVERNMENT  OUGHT  TO  BE   CALLED  UPON   TO  DO  AT  ONCE 

What  is  urgently  needed  is  an  immediate  decision  as  to  the  Gov- 
ernment housing  policy,  so  that  all  the  necessary  preparations  can 
be  made  in  advance,  ready  for  the  actual  building  to  begin  the  day 
after  peace  is  declared. 

(a)  The  Government  must  promptly  inform  all  the  local  authori- 
ties that  the  requisite  1,000.000  new  dwellings  have  got  to  he  built, 
and  that  each  place  will  have  its  assigned  quota. 


APPENDIX  A  213 

The  local  authorities  will  certainly  hang  back;  some  will  not  want 
to  have  any  more  working-class  dwellings;  property  owners  will 
everywhere  prefer  to  let  rents  go  to  scarcity  figures;  hardly  any 
Council  will  be  ready  to  buiJd  either  quickly  or  enough.  The  three 
Local  Government  Boards  for  England  and  Wales,  Scotland,  and 
Ireland  ought  to  fix  and  officially  proclaim  the  quota  of  new  dwell- 
ings that  each  local  authority  must,  within  four  years,  get  built — 
taking  into  account,  for  each  place,  such  statistics  as  (i.)  the  num- 
ber of  persons  living  more  than  two  to  a  room  at  the  census  of 
1911;  (ii.)  the  subsequent  estimated  increase  or  decrease  of  popu- 
lation; (iii.)  the  estimated  number  of  dwellings  needed  to  be  closed 
as  insanitary;  and  (iv. )  the  number  of  dwellings  to  let. 

(6)  The  local  authority  should  everywhere  he  required  to  decide, 
within  one  month,  whether  or  not  it  will  undertake  to  build  the  quota 
thus  fixed,  upon  the  terms  offered  by  the  Government. 

It  is  better  that  the  local  authority  should  build  for  its  own  dis- 
trict than  that  the  Central  Government  should  have  to  undertake 
the  task;  and  the  local  authority  should,  therefore,  be  given  the 
option  of  doing  its  duty.  But  it  is,  in  the  national  interest,  impera- 
tive that  the  full  number  of  new  dwellings  of  the  kind  required 
should  actually  be  put  up  within  the  allotted  time;  and  if  any  local 
authority  (which  is  now  temporarily  outside  the  control  of  the  local 
electorate)  will  not  undertake  its  share  of  the  task,  the  Central 
Government  will  simply  have  to  do  the  work  itself.  A  declaration 
to  this  effect  will  bring  most  recalcitrant  Councilors  to  reason.  If 
they  find  that  the  new  dwellings  will  anyhow  be  built  in  their  dis- 
trict, they  will  prefer  the  work  to  be  undertaken  by  their  own 
Council  rather  than  by  the  Government  Department. 

But  the  Local  Government  Board  must  make  it  clear  that  the 
scheme  will  involve  no  charge  on  the  rates.  The  Free  Grant  from 
the  Exchequer  (in  addition  to  the  loan  of  the  rest  of  the  cost  on  the 
best  possible  terms)  must  be  sufficient  to  enable  the  balance  sheet  to 
show  no  annual  deficit,  counting  on  rents  within  the  actual  means  of 
wage-earning  tenants  and  certainly  no  more  than  those  customary 
in  the  locality,  and  providing  for  the  actual  cost  of  the  sites,  the 
swollen  expense  of  building,  sufficient  allowance  for  management 
and  repairs,  and  whatever  interest  and  sinking  fund  the  Government 
requires. 

(c)  The  land  must  be  at  once  secured  {or  a  legal  option  obtained) 
under  the  summary  process  of  the  Defense  of  the  Realm  Act  or  some 
equally  speedy  procedure. 

If  land  has  to  be  acquired  under  the  Housing  Acts,  not  only  is 
the  compensation  sometimes  excessive  (which  will  now  be  a  matter 


211.  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

for  the  Qovemment  to  consider),  but — what  is  more  important — the 
delays  are  interininahle.  It  often  takes  a  local  authority  a  couple 
of  years  between  deciding  on  a  housing  scheme  and  getting  posses- 
sion of  the  site  chosen.  Unless  the  Government  sees  to  it  that  the 
sites  for  the  1,000,000  new  dwellings  are  secured  at  once,  or  at  any 
rale  during  the  war,  there  will  be  no  new  homes  for  the  soldiers  to 
come  back  to. 

(d)  The  plans  must  equally  he  prepared  and  approved  in  advance; 
and  the  local  authorities  should  he  required  to  have  them  ready 
within  three  months  of  the  decision  to  provide  so  many  dwellings. 

The  Local  Government  Board  might,  for  the  sake  of  expedition 
and  economy,  supply  every  local  authority  with  alternative  sets  of 
model  plans;  but  we  do  not  want  a  uniformly  ugly  "Government 
cottage"  dumped  down  all  over  the  country !  The  model  plans 
should  be  sent  only  as  suggestions  for  the  assistance  of  the  local 
authority,  to  be  adapted  to  local  conditions,  or  to  be  improved  on. 

The  plans  must,  of  course,  provide  for  cottages  or  other  dwellings 
of  different  sizes  and  accommodation,  of  up-to-date  sanitary  con- 
struction; each  home  to  be  "self-contained";  with  rooms  of  adequate 
floor  space,  height,  and  window  lighting;  properly  equipped  with 
kitchen  range  with  hot  water  fittings,  stoves,  sinks,  and  gas  and 
water  laid  on  (where  available)  ;  with  sutlicient  cupboards  and 
storage  for  food  and  coal;  and  invariably  with  a  fitted  bath.  Every 
cottage  must  stand  in  its  own  garden  of  not  less  than  one-eighth 
of  an  acre.  We  ought  to  determine  that  the  1,000,000  "Dwellings 
of  the  Great  Peace"  shall  be  a  model  for  the  ensuing  generation. 

(e)  The  Government  must  for  four  years  secure  "priority"  for 
these  1,000,000  working-class  dwellings  as  regards  all  huilding  ma- 
terials. 

When  peace  comes  there  will  be  a  general  shortage  of  all  building 
materials  all  over  the  world  (notably  timber,  cement,  bricks  and 
building  stone,  builders'  ironwork,  and  house  fittings).  As  between 
nations,  there  will  probably  have  to  be  an  international  control  of 
exportable  surpluses,  so  that  each  can  get  its  share.  Within  each 
nation  the  Government  will  have  to  control  all  supplies,  and  assign 
what  can  be  spared  to  the  different  objects,  on  the  principle  of 
"first  things  first."  Thus  the  only  building  that  can  be  permitted 
(until  supplies  become  abundant)  will  be  that  which  is  urgently 
required,  not  for  private  profit  or  the  personal  comfort  of  the  rich, 
but  in  the  public  interest.  Along  with  the  necessary  renewing  or 
enlarging  of  factories,  railways,  public  enterprises,  etc.,  must  come, 
in  the  first  rank  of  priority,  the  1,000,000  new  working-class  dwell- 


APPENDIX  A  215 

ings  that  are  so  urgently  needed.  For  a  long  time  to  come  there 
can  clearly  be  no  using  of  materials  for  palaces,  hotels,  or  any 
"luxury"  buildings  until  the  shortage  in  cottages  has  been  made 
good.     This  ''priority"  needs  to  be  emphasized. 

(/)  The  1,000,000  new  dwellings  should  he  everywhere  begun  the 
day  after  peace  is  declared;  but  should  be  proceeded  with,  month 
by  month,  strictly  in  correspondence  with  the  supply  of.  building 
trades  workmen,  so  as  to  leave  practically  none  of  them  at  any  time 
unemployed. 

The  sooner  the  whole  1,000,000  new  dweUings  are  completed  the 
better  for  the  nation  (and  the  earlier  we  can  let  the  Rent  Restric- 
tion Act  expire  and  safely  restore  to  the  property  owner  his  free- 
dom to  charge  whatever  rent  he  can  get!).  But  it  will  depend  on 
the  War  Office  how  quickly  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  brick- 
layers, masons,  carpenters,  plasterers,  plumbers,  and  building  la- 
borers are  released  from  the  Army,  or  from  the  other  occupations 
to  which  they  have  had  to  turn.  The  Employment  Exchanges,  which 
will  have  to  pay  these  building  operatives  their  unemployment 
benefit,  should,  therefore,  report  to  the  Local  Government  Board, 
week  by  week,  how  many  are  available  and  in  what  towns;  and  the 
Government  should  arrange  for  all  public  building  works  to  proceed 
at  a  greater  or  less  rate,  in  exact  correspondence  with  the  available 
supply  of  labor  and  thus  prevent  unemployment. 

{g)  Where  the  local  authority  obstinately  refuses  to  build  the 
quota  assigned  to  it,  the  Local  (government  Board  should  itself 
undertake  the  building,  placing  the  work  under  the  supervision  of  a 
local  committee  appointed  by  itself,  on  which  the  Trades  Council, 
the  local  Trad-e  Union  branches,  and  the  local  women's  industrial 
organizations  should  he  represented. 

The  nation  cannot  afford  to  permit  the  shortage  of  working-class 
dwellings  to  continue,  even  where  the  local  Councilors  (not  having 
to  run  the  gauntlet  of  an  election)  refuse  to  undertake  the  necessary 
housing  scheme.  The  Government  must  be  j^repared,  in  these  cases, 
itself  to  build.  It  can  offer  the  local  authority  the  dwellings  when 
completed,  either  at  cost  price  less  the  usual  Free  Grant,  or  at  a 
valuation. 

THE    COST 

To  build,  properly  and  healthily,  1,000,000  new  working-class 
dwellings  in  all  parts  of  the  United  Kingdom  in  both  rural  and 
urban  areas  may  probably  cost,  at  the  high  prices  that  will  prevail, 
£250,000,000  (the  cost  of  five  or  six  weeks  of  the  war).     But  even 


^>16  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

(•harpinp  no  more  than  tlie  rents  customary  in  each  locality,  prob- 
ably £200,000,000  of  this  cost  would  be  no  more  than  a  sound  finan- 
cial investment,  coverinf?  not  only  repairs,  management,  and  interest, 
but  also  a  siiikinj?  fund  to  repay  the  whole  debt  within  60  years.  The 
real  expense  would  be  represented  by  the  F'ree  Grant  from  the  Ex- 
cliecjuer  to  enable  the  several  housing?  schemes  to  pay  their  way.  If 
the  Governnient  were  to  lend  the  whole  capital  free  of  interest  (thus 
permittinj^  an  actual  reduction  of  rent),  this  would  involve  a  cost  to 
the  Exchequer  in  the  first  year  (assuming  that  the  Government  bor- 
rows at  5  per  cent.)  of  £12,500,000.  If  the  Government,  as  an 
alternative,  makes  the  same  sort  of  Free  Grant  as  it  has  done  in  a 
dozen  "munition  area.s,"  just  sufficient  to  enable  the  local  authorities 
to  avoid  any  charge  on  the  rates  at  rents  not  exceeding  those  here- 
tofore customary  (putting  this  Free  Grant  at  an  average  of  20  per 
cent.),  we  get  a  total  expense,  once  for  all,  of  no  more  than  £50,000,- 
000 — less  than  ten  days'  cost  of  the  war;  less  even  than  would  be 
covered  by  a  continuation  for  three  months  of  the  excess  profits  tax ! 
The  nation  cannot  afford  not  to  do  it. 


REPORT  BY  MINISTRY  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

ON 

HOUSING  IN  ENGLAND  AND  WALES 

I.   A  Large  Task 

One  of  our  greatest  and  most  urgent  tasks  after  the  war  will  be 
to  secure  good  and  healthy  homes  for  all.  We  should  aim  that  the 
houses  of  the  future  be  well  built,  have  sufficient  accommodation, 
and  that  there  be  enough  of  them  to  prevent  overcrowding.  They 
should  have  sufficient  light  and  air  and  not  be  built  in  long  monoto- 
nous rows.  Sufficient  open  space,  not  merely  for  health  but  for 
amenity,  should  be  ])rovided,  and  adequate  gardens.  Moreover,  in 
the  plans  of  the  houses  and  the  lay-out  of  the  land  regard  must  be 
had  to  beauty  as  well  as  health.  Not  merely  should  the  planning  of 
the  new  houses  and  their  surroundings  satisfy  this  high  standard, 
but  existing  houses,  which  are  defective  or  insanitary,  should  be 
made  thoroughly  fit  or  be  demolished.  The  crowded  slum  areas  and 
narrow  courts  which  disfigure  so  many  of  our  towns  and  which  have 
caused  so  much  disease  and  suffering  should  be  cleared  or  properly 
restored. 

All  this  may  sound  ideal,  but  the  gigantic  transformations  which 
have  taken  place  during  the  war  give  hope  that  in  time  we  may 
achieve  the  whole  of  this  task.     Of  course,  it  will  take  time,  and  we 


APPENDIX  A  217 

shall  have  to  work  by  stages  and  must  make  sure  that  each  step  is  a 
safe  and  sure  one.  But  if  we  set  out  with  that  earnestness  of 
purpose  and  energy  which  we  have  shown  in  the  war,  this  transfor- 
mation of  Britain  will  be  accomplished.  This  is  a  duty  we  owe  to 
ourselves,  but  still  more  to  the  men  serving  overseas  who  have  given 
up  so  much  and  who  must  be  assured  of  decent  and  healthy  homes 
when  their  fighting  is  over. 

The  Housing  problem  has  not  arisen  out  of  the  war,  but  has  merely 
been  rendered  more  urgent  and  more  difficult  by  its  effects.  Even 
before  the  war  the  housing  of  the  workers  was  very  far  short  of  a 
decent  standard.  A.  certain  proportion,  and  in  some  cases  a  con- 
siderable proportion,  of  the  population  were  living  under  over- 
crowded conditions  in  narrow  streets  of  houses  or  tenements  with- 
out adequate  light  and  air  or  open  spaces.  Many  of  the  houses 
and  tenements  themselves  were  quite  unfit  for  human  beings  to  live 
in.  Each  year  of  the  war  made  conditions  considerably  worse,  and, 
as  we  shall  show,  the  present  Housing  problem  may  be  now  stated 
as  consisting  in: 

(a)  A  shortage  of  houses  amounting  to  between  300,000  and 
400,000  for  England  and  Wales.  This  is  quite  apart  from  any 
further  shortage  which  would  be  created  by  the  closing  of  slum 
houses. 

(&)  A  large  number  of  defective  and  insanitary  houses  which  are 
unfit  for  human  beings  to  live  in. 

(c)  In  many  towns  slum  areas  consisting  of  crowded  and  narrow 
courts  and  streets. 

To  solve  the  problem,  therefore,  it  will  be  necessary  first  to  have 
sufficient  houses  well  planned  and  well  laid  out;  secondly,  to  close 
and  demolish  unfit  houses,  or  to  see  that  they  are  properly  and 
thoroughly  repaired;  and  thirdly,  to  clear  and  improve  the  slum 
areas  which  disfigure  so  many  of  our  towns.  It  is  the  object  of  this 
booklet  to  show  the  measures  which  will  be  necessary  in  order  to 
achieve  this.  But  to  do  so,  it  is  first  necessary  to  review  briefly 
the  position  before  the  war  and  to  see  what  steps  were  being  taken 
to  improve  conditions,  and  why  they  had  failed  to  attain  their 
object. 

II.   Housing  Before  the  War 

THE   SHORTAGE   OF   HOUSES 

According  to  the  Report  of  the  Census  of  1911  no  fewer  than 
one-tenth  of  the  population  were  living  under  overcrowded  condi- 
tions.    It  must  be  remembered  that  the  standard  for  overcrowding 


218  MANAGEMENT  AM)  MEN 

iicloptt'd  by  tlir  Census  Authorities  is  a  low  one.  People  are  only 
ref^arded  as  being  overcrowded  if  they  are  living  more  than  two  to 
u  room,  ineluding  living-rooms.  Thus,  if  a  cottage  or  tenement 
consists  of  two  hedrooiiis  and  living-room  it  is  only  regarded  as 
overcrowded  if  there  are  more  than  six  persons  living  in  it.  Fur- 
ther, children  under  fourteen  are  only  counted  as  half  a  person. 
To  find  that  one-tenth  of  the  population  were  overcrowded  on  this 
standard  gives  some  idea  how  serious  was  the  shortage  of  houses. 
It  is  true  that  in  some  cases  overcrowding  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  family  could  not  afford  to  pay  for  sufficient  rooms,  and  that 
until  the  causes  of  poverty  are  removed  no  final  solution  of  the 
housing  problem  can  be  attained.  But  even  when  this  is  allowed 
for,  it  undoubtedly  remains  a  fact  that  large  masses  of  people  were 
overcrowded  simply  because  there  was  not  sufficient  house  room.  To 
quote  a  well-known* phrase,  there  was  "no  room  to  live." 

The  shortage  of  houses  was  not  confined  to  the  towns  or  to  any 
one  part  of  the  country,  but  existed  in  towns  and  villages  through- 
out the  length  and  breadth  of  Great  Britain.  It  is  true  there  were 
some  places  and  districts  which  were  well  supplied  with  houses,  but 
the  evidence  of  the  census  figures  and  of  the  reports  of  Medical 
Officers  of  Health  clearly  showed  that  the  shortage  was  widsspread. 

DEFECTIVE   AND  INSANITARY  DWELLINGS 

The  trouble  did  not  end  with  the  mere  shortage  of  houses  and  the 
consequent  overcrowding.  A  large  number  of  the  inhabited  houses, 
both  in  town  and  country,  were  dilapidated  or  insanitary,  and  in 
many  cases  also  dark  and  damp.  The  reports  of  the  Medical  Officers 
of  Health  of  the  various  Borough,  Urban,  and  Rural  District  Coun- 
cils testified  to  these  defective  conditions.  In  many  cases  the  houses 
could  not  by  any  possible  method  of  repair  have  been  put  into  a 
satisfactory  condition,  and  in  a  still  larger  number  of  cases,  though 
capable  of  repair,  they  were,  in  fact,  not  touched,  and  in  their  exist- 
ing state  w'ere  not  reasonably  fit  for  human  beings  to  dwell  in. 
Here  again  it  is  important  to  remember  that  the  conditions  existed 
both  in  town  and  country. 

SLUM   AREAS 

In  many  towns  there  were  whole  areas,  sometimes  large,  sometimes 
small,  which  were  overcrowded  with  houses  and  in  which  there  was  a 
deficiency  of  adequate  air  and  light.  In  these  districts  the  streets 
and  courts  were  narrow  and  sunless,  and  the  conditions  could  not  be 
dealt  with  merely  by  improving  the  individual  houses  but  required 


APPENDIX  A  219 

the  clearance  and  improvement  of  the  whole  area.  These  slum  areas, 
in  the  main,  were  to  be  found  in  the  larger  towns,  but  they  also 
existed  in  quite  small  country  towns,  and  even  in  villages.  They 
fostei'ed  the  spread  of  disease  and  prevented  healthy  life  both  physi- 
cal and  moral. 

SOME   ILLUSTRATIONS 

To  illustrate  the  conditions  we  have  described  the  official  and  pub- 
lished reports  of  Medical  Officers  of  Health  of  two  towns  and  two 
rural  districts  may  be  quoted.  They  are  selected  at  random  and,  as 
they  present  facts  neither  better  nor  worse  than  hundreds  of  reports 
of  Medical  Officers  for  other  districts,  the  names  of  the  towns  and 
districts  are  not  mentioned.  To  mention  the  names  might  imply  that 
the  conditions  of  these  particular  places  were  worse  than  elsewhere, 
and  this  is  far  from  being  the  case. 

TOWNS 

"There  are  probably  between  40,000  and  50,000  back-to-back 
houses,  a  large  number  of  which  are  in  courtyards,  or  in  short  ter- 
races shut  in  behind  houses  which  face  the  street.  Much  of  this 
class  of  property  is  becoming  worn  out,  and  as  a  result  owners  are, 
to  an  ever-increasing  extent,  lessening  their  expenditure  on  its  up- 
keep. During  1912  there  were  926  houses  'represented'  as  unfit  for 
human  habitation. 

"The  condition  of  many  of  the  older  houses  in  the  district  cannot 
be  considered  satisfactory.  Sunlight  and  fresh  air  are  prime  neces- 
sities for  ensuring  health  and  minimizing  disease,  but  these  are  un- 
attainable in  the  crowded  slum,  and  in  the  houses  with  no  through 
ventilation,  of  which  there  are  many  in  your  district. 

COUNTRY   DISTRICTS 

"There  is  in  many  villages  a  clamant  need  for  new  and  better 
dwellings,  and  after  these  have  been  erected,  for  the  closure  and 
demolition  of  many  of  the  old  ones.  Certain  villages  have  suffered 
evident  demoralization  as  a  result  of  the  slow  deterioration  of  the 
housing  conditions  of  the  people. 

"There  were  forty-nine  cottages  inspected  last  year  in  which  noth- 
ing short  of  pulling  down  and  entirely  rebuilding  could  make  them 
habitable.  And  besides  these  things  were  discovered  forty-four 
cases  of  overcrowding.  ...  In  nearly  all  these  cases  it  was  almost 
impossible  to  abate  the  overcrowding  as  there  were  no  other  cottages 
available  for  the  tenants  to  go  into.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
were  it  not  that  cottages  are  so  scarce  throughout  the  district,  a 


«2<20  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

much  larger  number  would  be  condemned  and  really  required  to  be 
closed." 

This,  then,  was  the  housing  situation  before  the  war.  Let  us 
now  see  what  steps  were  being  taken  to  remedy  this  state  of  affairs, 
as  the  success  or  failure  of  these  steps  has  an  important  bearing  on 
the  program  for  housing  reform  which  we  hope  to  see  in  the  future. 

III.   Attempts  to  Improve  Housing  Conditions 

Various  Acts  of  Parliament  were  passed  during  the  nineteenth 
and  the  present  century  for  the  purpose  of  improving  the  condi- 
tions under  which  the  workers  were  housed.  The  basis  of  the  pres- 
ent law  is  the  Housing  Act  of  1890,  but  its  provisions  have  been 
amended  and  enlarged  by  various  other  Acts,  particularly  the  Hous- 
ing and  Town  Planning  Act  of  1909.  In  addition,  many  of  the 
provisions  of  the  Public  Health  Acts  (particularly  the  Act  of  1875) 
deal  with  housing  questions. 

Under  all  these  Acts  the  Local  Authority — i.e.,  the  Borough  or 
Urban  District  Council  in  the  towns  and  the  Rural  District  Council 
in  the  counties,  and  in  London  for  some  purposes  the  Coimty  Coun- 
cil— is  the  responsible  authority  for  carrying  out  the  law,  subject  to 
the  general  supervision  of  the  Local  Government  Board.  (The 
Local  Authorities  employ  Medical  Officers  of  Health,  Sur\^eyors,  and 
Sanitary  Inspectors  to  assist  them  in  carrying  out  their  duties.) 

THE   provision   OP   HOUSES 

Under  the  present  Housing  Acts  Local  Authorities  have  very  wide 
powers  of  providing  houses  for  the  working-classes.  They  may 
purchase  or  lease  existing  houses,  and  adapt,  improve,  and  furnish 
them.  They  may  purchase  land  (compulsorily,  if  necessary)  and 
build  houses  themselves,  or  they  may  simply  purchase  the  land, 
make  streets  and  sewers,  and  lease  it  upon  condition  that  the  lessees 
erect  and  maintain  on  it  approved  dwellings  for  tlie  working-classes. 
They  have  powers  not  only  to  build  dwelling-houses,  but  also  to  pro- 
vide shops,  recreation  grounds,  and  gardens  for  the  benefit  of  the 
tenants  of  the  dwelling-houses.  For  all  these  purposes  they  may 
borrow  the  full  amount  from  the  State  at  the  lowest  rate  at  which 
the  State  can  afford  to  lend.  Any  four  inhabitant  householders  in 
the  district  may  complain  to  the  Local  Government  Board  that  the 
Local  Authority  has  failed  to  exercise  the  above  powers,  whereupon, 
after  a  public  inquiry,  the  Local  Government  Board  may  order  it 
to  do  so. 


APPENDIX  A  221 

In  addition  to  conferring  these  powers  upon  Local  Authorities  the 
Housing  Acts  also  make  provision  for  the  granting  of  loans  by  the 
State  to  societies  and  individuals  erecting  houses  for  the  working- 
classes.  Loans  can  be  obtained  by  companies  or  private  individuals 
for  this  purpose  up  to  50  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  the  premises. 
Public  Utility  Societies  (that  is  to  say,  cooperative  or  other  societies 
registered  under  the  Industrial  and  Provident  Societies  Acts  and 
limiting  their  profits  to  5  per  cent.)  may  obtain  such  advance  up  to 
66%  per  cent. 

In  the  aggregate  relatively  little  use  has  been  made  of  these  powers, 
though  in  the  few  years  immediately  before  the  war  the  activities  of 
Local  Authorities  in  the  way  of  building  were  rapidly  increasing. 
The  number  of  houses  for  which  loans  to  Local  Authorities  were 
sanctioned  in  the  years  ending  31st  March,  1911,  to  1915,  were  464, 
1,021,  1.880,  3,335  and  4,408  respectively.  These  figures  show  an 
encouraging  increase.  But  it  still  remained  true  that  the  number 
built  even  in  the  last  year  before  the  war  was  only  a  small  propor- 
tion of  the  total  required  to  make  up  the  shortage  of  working-class 
dwellings. 

THE  IMPROVEMENT  OF   EXISTING   HOUSING  AND  THE  REMOVAL  OF 

SLUMS 

There  are  extensive  powers  for  improving  the  standard  of  existing 
houses.  Local  Authorities  have  power  to  make  by-laws  for  pre- 
venting overcrowding  and  ensuring  a  certain  minimum  of  sanitation 
and  convenience.  The  Housing  Acts  require  the  Local  Authorities 
to  cause  inspections  to  be  made  of  the  houses  in  their  area.  If  any 
dwelling-house  it  found  to  be  in  a  state  so  dangerous  or  in.iurious  to 
health  as  to  be  unfit  for  human  habitation  the  Local  Authority  must 
make  a  closing  order  prohibiting  the  use  of  the  dwelling-house  for 
human  habitation  until  it  is  rendered  fit.  If,  after  a  time,  the  house 
has  not  been  made  fit,  and  is  not  reasonably  likely  to  be  or  cannot  be 
made  fit,  the  authority  must  make  a  "demolition  order." 

In  addition,  in  the  case  of  houses  under  certain  rentals  which  are 
"not  reasonably  fit  for  human  habitation,"  the  Local  Authority  must 
give  notice  to  the  landlord  requiring  him  to  do  specified  repairs,  and 
if  these  are  not  done  by  the  landlord  the  authority  may  do  them 
and  charge  him  with  the  cost. 

In  the  case  of  a  house  which,  though  not  in  itself  unfit,  obstructs 
other  houses,  they  may  order  it  to  be  pulled  down,  paying  the  owner 
reasonable  compensation. 

Considerable  and  growing  use  has  been  made  of  the  powers  of 


'2^'2  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

dealing  with  individual  houses,  particularly  since  the  passing  of  the 
Act  of  1909.  Thus  the  number  of  houses  made  fit  in  this  way  at 
the  expense  of  the  owners  was  increased  from  19,4G3  in  1911  to 
(37,065  in  1914.  Though  the  improvement  has  been  considerable  and 
is  encouraging,  yet  a  great  deal  remains  to  be  done.  Many  Local 
Authorities,  in  spite  of  pressure  from  (he  Local  Government  Board, 
failed  to  make  any  use  whatever  of  their  powers,  and  many  have 
made  quite  inadequate  use  of  them.  The  problem  is  closely  bound 
up  with  the  (juestion  of  shortage  of  hou.seroom.  So  long  as  tenants 
have  no  alternative  accommodation.  Local  Authorities  will  hesitate 
to  close  houses,  even  though  convinced  of  their  unfitness. 

Where  the  powers  of  dealing  with  individual  houses  are  inade- 
quate owing  to  the  whole  area  being  so  congested  and  so  badly 
planned  that  only  a  complete  clearance  and  rel)uilding  of  the  area 
will  remedy  the  mischief,  the  Local  Authority  may  prepare  a  scheme 
for  that  purpose.  In  that  case  compensation  must  be  paid  to  the 
owners  for  the  premises  demolished,  except  in  the  cases  of  particular 
houses  which  could  not  rea.sonably  be  made  fit  for  habitation. 

The  expense  of  purchasing  wliole  areas  (including  often  factories 
and  other  good  buildings)  and  of  clearing  and  improving  them  has 
been  so  great  that  schemes  have  been  carried  out  in  only  very  few 
cases.  Only  two  or  three  schemes  a  year  were  submitted  in  the  years 
before  the  war. 

There  is  urgent  need  for  devising  some  fair  method  of  dealing  with 
these  plague-spots  of  our  cities  in  some  more  economical  way. 

THE    CONTROL   OF   BUILDING   AND   TOWN    PLANNING 

During  the  nineteenth  century  increasing  control  over  the  erection 
of  new  houses  was  established.  Local  Authorities  were  empowered 
(and  in  some  instances  required)  to  make  by-laws  for  that  purpose. 
In  this  way  a  control  (varying  with  the  different  districts)  was  im- 
posed over,  for  example,  water-supply  and  drainage  for  houses,  the 
materials  employed  in  their  construction  and  height  of  rooms.  In 
consequence  of  these  provisions  a  great  improvement  was  obtained 
in  the  character  of  the  individual  houses  erected  by  private  enter- 
prise, although  considerable  hardship  and  expense  is  alleged  to  have 
arisen  in  some  cases  from  the  inelasticity  of  the  by-laws.  (A  special 
committee,  under  the  Chairmanship  of  Mr.  Stephen  Walsh,  M.P., 
is  now  considering  the  whole  question  of  by-laws.) 

Valuable  though  these  provisions  were  in  raising  the  standard  of 
individual  houses,  they  still  left  the  planning  and  laying-out  of  areas 
to  the  accident  of  circumstances.  No  proper  foresight  was  exer- 
cised in  regard  to  the  future  development  of  a  district.    Areas  were 


APPENDIX  A  223 

used  indifferently  for  industrial  and  residential  purposes,  to  the 
detriment  of  both  the  manufacturer  and  the  resident.  Finally, 
houses  were  crowded  on  sites  in  dreary  monotonous  rows,  to  the 
sacrifice  both  of  health  and  amenity. 

In  1909  the  first  statutory  provision  on  the  subject  of  Town  Plan- 
ning was  made  in  the  Housing  and  Town-Planning  Act.  Power  was 
given  to  Local  Authorities,  with  the  consent  of  the  Local  Govern- 
ment Board,  to  prepare  a  town-planning  scheme  as  respects  any 
land  in  course  of  development  or  likely  to  be  used  for  ])uilding  pur- 
poses. The  subject  of  Town  Planning  is  dealt  with  in  a  separate 
pamphlet. 

IV.   The  Effect  of  the  War 

The  effect  of  the  war  has  been 

(1)  to  increase  considerably  the  shortage  of  houses; 

(2)  to  suspend  practically  all  work  in  connection  with  the  closing 
and  repairing  of  unfit  houses  and  the  clearing  of  slums; 

(3)  to  increase  the  cost  of  building  and  the  rate  of  interest  on 
capital ; 

(4)  to  produce  an  acute  shortage  of  building  materials. 

SHORTAGE 

Since  1915  very  few  working-class  houses  have  been  built  except 
in  certain  munition  and  shipbuilding  areas.  Even  in  these  areas 
houses  have  only  been  built  where  absolutely  essential  and  in  insuf- 
ficient quantities. 

The  Local  Government  Board  have  recently  been  making  an 
inquiry  from  the  Local  Authorities  of  England  and  Wales  as  to  the 
shortage  of  houses  in  their  districts.  They  were  asked  to  state  the 
number  of  new  houses  which  (a)  were  required  now,  and  (b)  should 
be  built  at  the  close  of  the  war,  to  provide  the  necessary  accommo- 
dation for  the  working  classes  in  their  districts.  Up  to  date  returns 
have  been  received  from  about  1,500  Authorities.  They  show  a 
total  of  170,000  in  regard  to  (a),  and  190,000  in  regard  to  (&). 
TIius,  if  the  war  were  to  end  at  once  there  would  be  an  immediate 
necessity  for  building  between  300,000  and  400,000  houses. 

DEFECTIVE  HOUSES  AND   SLUMS 

At  the  same  time,  owing  to  the  shortage  of  labor  and  materials 
only  the  most  necessary  repairs  have  been  effected.  Local  Authori- 
ties have  been  unable  to  issue  Closing  Orders  in  the  ease  of  defective 
houses,  or  to  give  notice  to  owners  to  repair.     In  1915  the  Local 


224»  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Government  Board  issued  a  circular  to  Local  Authorities  suggesting 
that 

"whilst  not  unduly  relaxing  the  standard  of  public  health  adminis- 
tration in  their  area,  Local  Authorities  should,  as  far  as  possible,  re- 
frain from  requiring  the  execution  of  v/ork  the  cost  of  which  has  to 
be  borne  by  private  individuals  unless  the  work  is  urgently  necessary 
for  the  removal  of  nuisances  or  the  protection  of  health." 

The  special  circumstances  due  to  the  war  have  made  this  necessary, 
but  the  general  effect  has  been  that  the  quality  of  existing  houses  has 
steadily  deteriorated.  Very  few  slum  areas  have  been  cleared  or 
improvement  schemes  started. 

THE  COST  OP  BUILDING 

The  cost  of  building  rose  considerably  during  the  ten  years  before 
the  war.  Since  the  outbreak  of  war  the  increase  has  been  very  great, 
and  it  is  now  nearly  twice  as  great  as  it  was  before  the  war.  And  it 
is  calculated  that  even  when  peace  is  restored  the  cost  will  still  be 
half  as  much  again  as  it  was  in  1914.  Thus,  a  house  which  would 
have  cost  £200  before  the  war  will  probably  cost  at  least  £300  after. 
Further,  owing  to  the  immense  amount  of  borrowing  for  war  pur- 
poses the  rate  of  interest  on  capital  has  very  much  increased. 
Before  the  war  the  State  was  lending  money  for  housing  purposes  to 
Local  Authorities  at  3^^  per  cent.,  while  now  it  can  only  lend  at  5y2 
per  cent.  In  this  connection  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  as  the 
result  of  the  Increase  of  Rent  and  Mortgage  Interest  (War  Restric- 
tions) Act,  1915,  the  rents  of  houses  in  existence  before  the  war  have 
remained  at  the  same  level  as  they  were  in  1914. 

SUPPLY   OF   MATERIALS 

Owing  to  the  great  demand  for  timber  and  the  scarcity  of  labor 
for  brickyards  and  other  building  material  industries,  the  supply  has 
been  very  much  reduced.  This  whole  question  is  being  investigated 
by  a  special  committee. 

We  now  propose  to  siiow  how  important  it  is  to  make  early  ar- 
rangements for  the  building  of  the  large  number  of  houses  required 
in  the  years  immediately  after  the  war,  and  then  to  show  the  lines 
upon  which  our  policy  must  be  framed  in  order  to  secure  that  the 
houses  are  in  fact  built. 


APPENDIX  A  225 

V.   The  Need  for  Action 

Thus  the  housing  situation,  bad  as  it  was  in  1914,  is  far  more 
serious  as  the  result  of  the  war,  and  tlie  importance  of  dealing  rap- 
idly and  effectively  with  the  problem  after  the  war  cannot  be  exag- 
gerated. Bad  and  inadequate  housing  has  serious  effects  on  both 
social  and  industrial  conditions.  It  is  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  the 
spread  of  disease,  of  infant  mortality,  and  of  physical  deterioration, 
and  also  of  social  and  industrial  unrest.  On  the  other  hand,  to  build 
a  large  number  of  new  houses  is  essential  for  increased  food  produc- 
tion and  rapid  demobilization,  and  will  assist  in  preventing  unem- 
ployment after  the  war. 

EFFECT   OF   BAD    HOUSING   ON    HEALTH   AND   LIFE 

It  is  well  known  that  overcrowding  and  bad  housing  conditions 
have  a  very  serious  effect  upon  health.  Where  there  is  confined 
space,  insufficient  air,  lack  of  sunlight,  dampness,  bad  drainage  or 
overcrowding,  disease  spreads  more  rapidly  and  there  is  a  serious 
increase  both  of  infant  mortality  and  the  general  death  rate.  Thus, 
Dr.  Mair,  vfho  made  a  special  investigation  into  the  subject,  found 
that  the  number  of  deaths  from  pulmonary  disease  and  the  diseases 
of  young  children  were  half  as  much  again  in  back-to-back  houses 
as  in  ordinary  dwelling-houses. 

The  effects  of  overcrowding  and  insanitary  dwelling-houses  upon 
tuberculosis  are  notorious.  An  examination  of  the  reports  of  the 
London  Tuberculosis  Dispensaries  shows  that  one-half  of  the  pa- 
tients under  the  care  of  these  institutions  live  in  dwellings  with  one 
or  two  rooms  only.  In  the  report  of  one  of  these  dispensaries  we 
find: 

"Only  134  out  of  766  patients  suffering  from  definite  signs  of  pul- 
monary tuberculosis  occupied  separated  rooms  at  night  time.  The 
others  were  sleeping  in  rooms  shared  by  one  or  more  persons,  and 
of  these  only  179  slept  in  separate  beds,  the  remaining  453  actually 
sleeping  in  the  same  beds  as  one  or  more  members  of  the  family." 

What  bad  housing  conditions  mean  in  individual  cases  may  be 
illustrated  from  the  following  quotation  from  the  report  of  another 
dispensary : 

"At  No.  181  Mrs.  Simms  will  be  found,  but  she  is  in  such  deep 
trouble  that  we  hardly  like  to  knock.  For  this  morning  early,  Simms 
woke  up,  and  coughed  and  died.     Uninsured,  with  no  savings  or 


226  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

earnings,  there  poor  Sinims  lies,  and  the  five  small  children  stand 
round,  looking  wide-eyed  and  wondering  on  their  first  sight  of  Death. 
A  starved  fire  flickers  in  the  grate.  The  windows  are  not  merely 
closed,  but  round  the  edges  of  each  sash  is  pasted  tight  a  double 
strip  of  paper.  For  throu^i^h  the  old  and  lofjsely-fitted  woodwork 
come  otherwise  piercing  draughts  on  winter  nights.  These  win- 
dows have  for  long  been  sealed  with  paper  so  as  to  keep  out  both 
winter  draughts  and  summer  breezes.  The  paper  was  fixed  by  the 
preceding  tenants,  who  when  they  were  evicted  were  found  to  num- 
ber fourteen  in  all.  Fourteen  souls  in  two  small  rooms  with  sealed 
windows.  The  seeds  of  Death  were  sown  thick  and  fast  on  the  floors 
of  No.  181." 

Bad  housing  conditions  affect  not  merely  physical  health  but  the 
general  standard  of  life.  How  is  it  possible  to  keep  a  home  clean 
and  comfortable  if  it  consists  of  two  rooms  only,  while  the  family 
number  fourteen?  How  is  it  possible  to  maintain  decency  when 
there  are  insufficient  bedrooms  to  separate  the  sexes,  or  when — as  is 
not  uncommon  in  some  of  our  towns — there  is  only  one  sanitary 
convenience  to  six  tenements?  • 

HOUSING  AND   INDUSTRIAL  UNREST 

Last  year  a  Royal  Commission  was  appointed  to  inquire  into  the 
causes  of  Industrial  Unrest.  Great  Britain  was  divided  into  eight 
areas  and  separate  Commissions  examined  the  causes  of  unrest  in 
each  of  these  areas.  In  their  reports  the  Commissioners  in  seven 
out  of  the  eight  districts  specifically  drew  attention  to  the  fact  of 
insufficient  and  bad  housing  being  a  cause  of  unrest. 

Thus,  those  for  the  North-Eastern  area  say  that  they  "have  thought 
it  right  to  point  out  that  the  housing  question  was  put  forward  as  one 
of  the  general  causes  of  industrial  unrest,  which  should  in  the  na- 
tional interest  be  dealt  with  at  an  early  date."  The  report  for  the 
Yorkshire  area  emphasizes  the  necessity  for  a  large  program  of 
social  reform  after  the  war,  "including  especially  sufficient  increase 
in  and  improvement  of  housing  accommodation."  And  the  Com- 
missioners for  Wales  say  "it  is  clear  from  the  large  amount  of  evi- 
dence received  that  unsatisfactory  surroundings  and  inadequacy  of 
housing  accommodation  is  a  factor  of  great  importance  in  the  causa- 
tion of  unrest." 

POOD    PRODUCTION    AND   THE   RETURN    TO   THE   LAND 

We  have  come  to  realize  the  importance  of  increasing  the  produc- 
tion of  home-grown  food.     At  present  we  are  not  getting  the  full 


APPENDIX  A  227 

produce  of  the  land  owing  to  lack  of  labor.  But  when  the  war  is 
over  it  will  be  possible  to  have  a  sufficient  supply  of  labor  provided 
that  the  conditions  are  such  as  to  attract  the  returning  soldier  back 
to  the  land  and  give  him  reasonable  prospects.  But  men  are  not 
going  back  to  the  land  whatever  the  attractions  of  an  open-air  life 
unless  they  are  reasonably  sure  of  decent  and  healthy  homes.  While 
married  soldiers,  who  were  formerly  on  the  land,  in  many  cases  have 
cottages  to  return  to,  single  men  who  are  desirous  of  marrying  will 
be  unable  to  find  homes  in  the  country  districts  unless  effective  steps 
are  taken.  It  must  be  remembered,  too,  that  the  policy  of  plowing 
up  two  million  additional  acres  of  grass  land  will  necessitate  in- 
creased labor  and  therefore  more  cottages.  Thus  it  is  essential  that 
a  large  number  of  good  cottages  with  reasonable  gardens  should  be 
built  in  the  country  districts  as  early  as  possible. 

DEMOBILIZATION  AXD   UNEMPLOYMENT 

At  the  end  of  the  war  we  hope  to  see  the  soldiers  and  sailors 
demobilized  as  soon  as  possible,  both  for  their  sakes  and  our  own. 
Apart  from  military  exigencies  and  the  difficulties  of  transport  there 
will  be  two  questions  having  a  very  important  bearing  upon  the  speed 
with  which  demobilization  can  take  place.  One  is  the  question 
whether  there  are  houses  for  the  soldiers  to  go  to  when  discharged. 
The  other  is  whether  there  is  employment  available.  The  transition 
from  a  war  to  a  peace  basis  will  cause,  at  the  least,  very  great  dis- 
location in  industry  and  finance,  and  at  the  same  time  tliere  may  be 
considerable  unemployment. 

It  will  not  be  possible  to  reestablish  quickly  those  industries  for 
which  raw  materials  are  scarce,  or  have  to  be  imported.  Shipping 
will  be  short  and  will  be  largely  occupied  in  the  transport  of  troops 
and  food.  But  building  materials  can  be  produced  almost  entirely 
in  this  country.  It  is  true  that  there  will  be  a  shortage  of  timber, 
but  experiments  are  now  being  made  for  reducing  to  a  minimum  the 
quantity  of  timber  used  in  the  building  of  cottages.  In  all  prob- 
ability it  may  be  said  that  at  least  nine-tenths  of  the  necessary  mate- 
rials for  building,  such  as  brick,  cement,  iron-mongery,  slate,  tiles, 
can  be  produced  in  the  country. 

If  schemes  for  building  as  many  of  the  necessary  houses  as  prac- 
ticable were  ready  to  be  put  into  operation  immediately  after  the 
declaration  of  peace,  it  would  materially  assist  in  solving  the  unem- 
plojnnent  problem.  Work  would  be  provided  for  brickmakers  and 
others  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  building  material :  for  brick- 
layers, masons,  carpenters,  joiners,  and  plumbers,  and  all  others 


228  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

taking  part  in  the  actual  building  of  housos.  It  would  also  provide 
direct  emploympnt  for  a  large  nutnhcr  of  workers  in  roadmaking, 
sewering,  and  estate  develoi)nient ;  and  indirect  employment  to  others 
in  the  furnishing  and  other  trades.  It  is  not  exaggerating  to  say 
that,  having  regard  to  the  large  number  of  houses  required,  work 
might  be  provided  in  this  way  for  over  one  million  men,  and  this 
would  be  the  largest  single  contribution  to  the  unemployment  prob- 
lem. The  State  must  see  that  its  citizens  are  maintained  after  the 
war.  It  will  be  much  better  to  do  this  by  employing  them  on  vitally 
necessary  and  useful  work  than  by  keeping  tl)em  when  no  longer 
wanted  in  the  Army  or  granting  them  insurance  doles  to  walk  the 
streets. 

A  proper  housing  scheme,  therefore,  will  not  only  fill  an  urgent 
need,  but  will  accelerate  demobilization  and  reduce  unemplo\Tnent. 
If  a  further  reason  be  wanted  for  a  progressive  housing  policy  there 
is  one  more  convincing  than  all  others.  It  is  that  as  a  bare  measure 
of  justice,  every  man  who  has  given  of  his  best  in  fighting  or  working 
for  his  country  should  be  regarded  as  entitled  as  of  right  to  a  decent 
home  in  pleasant  surroundings.  As  Mr.  Walter  Long,  when  Presi- 
dent of  the  Local  Government  Board,  said  in  reply  to  a  deputation 
on  "Housing  After  the  War": 

"It  would  indeed  be  a  crime — a  black  crime — if  reading  as  we  do 
the  wonderful  accounts  of  the  sufferings  which  our  heroes  have  to 
undergo  in  the  trenches  ...  we  sat  still  now  and  did  nothing.  .  .  . 
To  let  them  come  from  horrible  water-logged  trenches  to  something 
little  better  than  a  pigsty  here  would  indeed  be  criminal  on  the  part 
of  ourselves,  and  would  be  a  negation  of  all  we  have  said  during  this 
war,  that  we  can  never  repay  these  men  for  what  they  have  done 
for  us." 

Or  as  Dr.  Addison,  Minister  of  Reconstruction,  puts  it:  "Those 
who  have  suffered  the  hardships  of  war  and  the  long  bitterness  of 
separation  deserv^ed  better  of  us  than  to  have  to  pass  their  lives  in 
a  slum." 


VI.   The  Housing  Policy  After  the  War 

We  have  shown  that  the  situation  at  the  end  of  the  war  will  con- 
sist in  a  shortage  of  housing  amounting  to  between  300,000  and 
400,000  for  England  and  Wales  alone,  and  in  the  existence  of  large 
numbers  of  slum  dwellings  and  slum  areas.     This  housing  problem 


APPENDIX  A  229 

must  be  solved  as  early  as  possible  if  we  are  to  secure  homes  for 

returning  soldiers.  The  solution  is  also  essential  if  we  are  to  prevent 
industrial  unrest,  to  secure  adequate  emplojTuent,  and  to  remove  one 
of  the  greatest  causes  of  infant  mortality  and  the  spread  of  disease. 

What  steps  are  the  Government  taking  to  deal  with  this  difficult 
situation? 

The  whole  question  is  being  carefully  considered  by  both  the  Local 
Government  Board  and  the  Ministry  of  Reconstruction,  each  of  whom 
have  strong  advisory  committees  on  the  subject.  In  some  directions 
active  steps  have  already  been  taken,  while  in  others  schemes  are 
being  formulated.  At  the  outset  it  is  important  to  emphasize  that 
the  building  of  new  houses  is  the  most  urgent  matter.  It  is  no  good 
thinking  of  clearing  slum  areas  or  of  issuing  Closing  Orders  in  the 
case  of  individual  bad  houses  unless  there  is  sufficient  alternative 
accommodation. 

LOCAL  GOVERNMENT   BOARD   INQUIRY 

Therefore,  the  first  step  was  to  ascertain  where  the  new  houses 
were  required.  For  this  purpose  the  Local  Government  Board,  on 
28th  July,  1917,  sent  an  inquiry  form  to  all  the  Local  Authorities  in 
town  and  country  asking  them  to  state  how  many  houses  will  be 
needed  in  their  districts.  We  have  shown  that  returns  have  been 
received  from  over  1,500  authorities  showing  an  immediate  shortage 
of  170,000,  which  will  be  increased  by  another  190,000  on  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  war.  This  affords  a  good  basis  for  preparing  plans,  but, 
of  course,  it  must  be  remembered  that  while  many  Local  Authorities 
have  made  adequate  returns,  in  some  districts  the  inhabitants  feel 
that  the  Local  Authority  has  under-estimated  the  shortage,  while  one- 
sixth  of  the  Authorities  have  made  no  returns  at  all.  Probably  the 
Authorities  in  some  of  these  cases  have  been  awaiting  a  decision  as 
to  the  form  and  extent  of  the  financial  assistance  which  was  to  be 
given.     This  has  now  been  announced. 

It  should  be  added  that  900  Local  Authorities  have  reported  that 
they  have  already  prepared,  or  are  in  course  of  preparing,  or  are 
willing  to  prepare  schemes  for  the  erection  of  more  than  150,000 
houses  in  all. 

The  President  of  the  Local  Government  Board  has  stated  recently 
that: 

"All  were  conscious  of  the  terrible  shortage  of  houses  and  the  fact 
that  the  private  builder  could  not  be  relied  upon  to  make  good  the 
deficiency.     Hence  they  could  only  turn  to  the  Local  Authorities." 


230  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

As  we  showed,  the  financial  difficulties,  owing  to  the  increased  cost  of 
huildinp^  and  rate  of  interest,  will  bo  considerable. 

It  was  decided  by  the  War  Cabinet  in  July,  1917,  that  substantial 
financial  assistance  would  be  given  "to  those  Local  Authorities  who 
are  prepared  to  carry  through  without  delay,  at  the  conclusion  of 
the  war,  a  program  of  housing  for  the  working  classes  which  is  ap- 
proved by  the  Local  Government  Board." 

In  a  circular  issued  by  the  Local  Government  Board  it  is  stated 
that  this  assistance  is  to  take  the  following  form.  An  annual  grant 
is  to  be  made  for  not  less  than  seven  years  sufficient  to  relieve  the 
Local  Authority  of  three-quarters  of  the  estimated  annual  loss  on 
the  housing  scheme.  At  the  end  of  that  time  the  prf)pcrty  is  to  be 
valued,  and  three-quarters  of  the  excess  of  the  amount  of  the  loan 
outstanding  over  the  then  value  of  the  property  will  be  met  by  the 
State.  Briefly,  therefore,  in  the  case  of  approved  schemes  the  State 
will  bear  three-quarters  of  the  loss  and  the  Local  Authority  the 
remainder.  But  there  are  some  districts  where  it  would  be  a  serious 
burden  for  the  Local  Authority  to  have  to  bear  even  a  quarter  of  any 
loss.  In  all  cases  where  one  quarter  of  the  estimated  annual  deficit 
would  involve  the  levying  of  a  rate  of  more  than  a  penny  in  the  £ 
the  Local  Government  Board  is  to  have  discretion  to  increase  the 
Government  grant.  But  the  loss  to  be  borne  by  the  Local  Authority 
in  such  ease  must  not  be  reduced  below  the  produce  of  a  rate  of  a 
penny  in  the  £, 

This  assistance  is  only  to  be  available  for  a  limited  time  after  the 
war  and  subject  to  the  condition  that  in  all  ordinary  cases  building 
shall  be  commenced  within  two  months,  and  completed  within  twelve 
months,  from  the  date  of  the  Local  Government  Board  sanctioning 
the  loan  for  the  scheme. 

As  regards  the  loans  for  the  schemes  it  is  stated  that  "any  loans  by 
the  State  for  the  purpose  of  assisted  schemes  would  be  made  at  the 
full  market  rate  of  interest  current  from  time  to  time,  and  not  at 
the  preferential  rates  ordinarily  allowed  for  housing  loans,  in  order 
(1)  that  the  whole  of  the  State  assistance  may  be  given  under  one 
head,  and  (2)  that  Local  Authorities  may  be  encouraged  to  borrow 
on  their  own  credit  rather  than  to  have  recourse  to  State  capital 
funds."  And  again,  the  Treasury  ask  that  "It  may  be  made  quite 
clear  that  the  precise  date  at  which  the  execution  of  any  schemes 
approved  by  the  Board  can  be  commenced  must  depend  on  circum- 
stances which  cannot  at  present  be  foreseen,  and  that  the  financial 
position  may  be  such  that  it  may  be  necessary  to  give  precedence  to 
the  more  urgent  cases,  even  to  the  exclusion  for  the  time  being  of  the 
less  urgent." 


APPENDIX  A  231 

In  the  circular  Mr.  Hayes  Fisher  expresses  the  hope  that  in  every 
case  where  there  is  need  for  houses  not  Ukely  to  be  met  by  any  form 
of  private  enterprise  the  Local  Authority  will  see  that  a  housing 
scheme  is  prepared  with  as  little  delay  as  possible. 

Where  the  Local  Autliorities,  in  spite  of  an  admitted  need,  fail  to 
take  adequate  steps  Mr.  Fisher  has  plainly  hinted  in  public  speeches 
that  they  will  be  supplanted  by  some  other  authority  who  will  see 
that  houses  are  built. 

PLANS   AND   ARRANGEMENTS   OF   THE   HOUSES 

As  regards  the  plans  for  the  construction  of  the  houses  and  the 
laying-out  of  the  land,  the  Local  Government  Board  have  recently 
issued  a  memorandum  containing  advice  to  Local  Authorities  and 
plans. 

It  is  not  possible  to  quote  more  than  a  few  extracts  from  this 
interesting  document,  but  the  following  quotations  show  that  in  sanc- 
tioning schemes  the  Local  Government  Board  will  require  a  high 
standard  to  be  adopted : 

"The  type  of  dwelling  required  in  ordinary  circumstances  is  the 
self-contained  house.  Occasionally  there  may  be  a  demand  for  ac- 
commodation of  a  limited  character — e.g.,  accommodation  for  newly- 
married  couples  or  for  aged  persons  without  a  family — and  in  such 
cases  it  may  be  desirable  to  meet  the  demand  by  the  provision  of 
two-story  houses  consisting  of  two  self-contained  dwellings;  but, 
generally,  it  would  seem  desirable  to  avoid  the  erection  of  blocks  of 
buildings  containing  a  series  of  tenements. 

"It  is  desirable  that  simplicity  of  design  and  economy  in  construc- 
tion and  general  arrangements  should  be  aimed  at,  but  it  would  be 
well  to  bear  in  mind  that  houses  erected  by  a  local  authority  ought 
generally  to  be  such  as  will  be  a  model  or  standard  for  working- 
class  dwellings  which  may  be  erected  by  private  persons. 

"The  house  should  be  designed  to  meet  the  reasonable  needs  of  the 
prospective  occupants,  and  the  internal  arrangements  will,  no  doubt, 
be  influenced  to  some  extent  by  custom  of  the  locality  and  by  the 
habits  of  the  population." 

In  order  that  no  stone  may  be  left  unturned  to  secure  the  best 
advice  obtainable  both  as  regards  economy  of  construction  (which 
is  particularly  important  in  present  circumstances)  and  the  best 
possible  tj'pes  of  plans,  special  inquiries  have  been  instituted.  To 
deal  with  the  first  point,  the  Local  Government  Board  have  appointed 
a  committee  under  the  chairmanship  of*  Sir  Tudor  Walters,  M.P., 
who  are  asked: 


232  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

"To  consider  questions  of  building  construction  in  connection  with 
the  provision  of  dwellings  for  the  working  classes  in  England  and 
Wales,  and  report  upon  methods  of  securing  economy  and  despatch 
in  the  provision  of  such  dwellings." 

A  Sub-Committee  of  this  Committee  is  making  practical  experiments 
into  the  methods  of  cheapening  construction  and  of  getting  over  the 
ditliculty  with  regard  to  the  shortage  of  timber  and  certain  other 
materials. 

By  arrangement  with  the  Local  Government  Board  the  Institute  of 
British  Architects  has  been  conducting  a  competition  for  the  best 
types  of  cottage  plans.  For  this  purpose  the  country  has  been 
divided  up  into  various  districts  and  plans  for  each  of  the  districts 
asked  for,  so  that  regard  may  be  had  to  special  local  requirements 
and  supply  of  materials.  Further,  it  has  been  recognized  that  in 
considering  the  plans  of  new  cottages,  and  particularly  the  internal 
arrangements,  regard  must  be  had  to  the  convenience  and  comfort  of 
the  housewife,  and  that  the  best  way  of  ensuring  this  was  to  inspect 
various  types  of  houses  and  to  consult  with  the  housewives  them- 
selves. For  this  purpose,  therefore,  a  Women's  Committee  has  been 
appointed  by  the  Minister  of  Reconstruction,  with  Lady  Emmott  as 
chairman,  to  consider  the  whole  question  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  housewife. 

ARRANGEMENT   OP   STREETS   AND   BUILDINGS   AND   LAY-OUT   OF 
ESTATES 

The  Local  Government  Board  memorandum,  already  quoted,  draws 
attention  to  the  necessity  for  securing  a  good  laj'-out  of  land  which 
is  being  developed  by  Local  Authorities.  In  this  connection  regard 
must  be  had  both  to  health  and  amenities,  as  the  following  extracts 
show : 

"The  arrangements  of  houses  on  the  site,  and  to  some  extent  the 
design  of  the  houses,  will  depend  upon  the  size,  situation,  and  char- 
acter of  the  land,  but  the  site  should  be  so  utilized  as  to  secure  ample 
open  space  in  connection  with  the  houses  and  the  best  possible  aspect 
for  the  living-rooms.  The  latter  point  should  be  borne  in  mind  in 
fixing  the  direction  of  any  new  streets  required  to  be  constructed. 

"Overcrowding  of  houses  on  a  site  should  be  avoided.  Although 
some  regard  must  be  paid  to  the  cost  of  the  site  and  the  extent  to 
which  street  works  will  be  necessary,  the  number  of  houses  to  be 
erected  on  each  acre  of  land  should  be  kept  within  strictly  reasonable 
limits. 

"It  is  desirable  that  houses  should  be  set  back  from  the  street-Une, 


APPENDIX  A  233 

so  as  to  allow  small  gardens  or  forecourts  to  intervene  between  the 
houses  and  the  streets. 

"It  is  undesirable  that  long  rows  of  houses  without  a  break  should 
be  constructed;  and,  as  a  rule,  the  number  of  houses  in  a  continuous 
row  should  not  exceed  eight  or  ten.  Long  rows  are  open  to  objec- 
tion, not  only  because  overcrowding  of  houses  on  the  site  may  be 
the  result,  but  also  because  they  give  a  monotonous  and  depressing 
appearance  and  prevent  easy  inter-communication  between  streets." 

No  definite  rule  has  been  laid  down  as  to  the  number  of  houses 
which  should  be  allowed  to  be  built  on  a  given  area  of  land.  But 
in  the  circular  of  the  18th  March,  1918,  mentioned  above,  it  is  stated 
that  "the  aim  should  be  to  provide  that  in  ordinary  circumstances 
not  more  than  twelve  houses  (or  in  agricultural  areas  eight  houses) 
should  be  placed  on  an  acre  of  land  wherever  this  is  possible  without 
materially  increasing  the  cost  of  the  scheme.  This  will  give  sufficient 
land  for  gardens,  allotments,  and  open  spaces." 

PRIVATE   ENTERPRISE 

It  should  be  pointed  out  that  while  the  great  urgency  of  the 
problem  will  make  it  necessary  to  rely  on  Local  Authorities  for  pro- 
viding a  large  proportion  of  the  houses  required  there  is  no  proposal 
to  rule  out  private  enterprise.  On  the  contrary,  it  has  been  definitely 
stated  by  the  Local  Government  Board  that: 

"the  complete  solution  of  the  housing  problem  is  not  likely  to  be 
accomplished  except  with  the  cooperation  of  private  enterprise,  in- 
cluding public  utility  societies,  and  that  in  order  to  secure  the  full 
advantage  of  their  help  it  may  be  advisable  for  the  State  to  offer 
them  assistance  in  one  or  other  of  the  directions  which  are  now  under 
the  consideration  of  a  Conference  sitting  at  the  Local  Government 
Board." 

No  definite  statement  can  yet  be  made  as  to  the  form  of  assistance 
which  could  be  given  to  private  enterprise,  or  what  conditions  would 
have  to  be  imposed.  But  a  Committee  has  been  appointed  by  the 
Minister  of  Reconstruction,  with  the  Right  Hon.  Henry  Hobhouse  as 
chairman,  "To  consider  and  advise  on  the  practicability  of  assisting 
any  bodies  or  persons  (other  than  Local  Authorities)  to  build  dwell- 
ings for  the  working  classes  immediately  after  the  war,  whether  by 
means  of  loans,  grants,  or  other  subsidies,  and  whether  through  the 
agency  of  the  State  or  Municipal  Banks  or  otherwise." 


23 i  MANAGEMENT  AM)   MEN 


soMK  oTirrcR  important  committees 

We  have  sliown  that  the  supply  ol'  buildinfj  materials  and  their 
price  will  be  a  most  important  factor  in  housing  alter  the  war. 
The  Ministry  of  Reconstru(;tion,  therefore,  has  appointed  a  Com- 
mittee, under  the  chairnianship  of  Mr.  J.  P.  Carmichael,  to  inquire 
into  the  whole  question  of  supply  and  price  of  materials. 

Acquisition  of  land  is  also  an  important  matter  in  connection  with 
housing,  and  there  is  a  Committee  of  the  Ministry  of  Keconstruction 
under  tlie  chairmanship  of  Mr.  Leslie  Scott,  K.C.,  M.P.,  inquiring 
into  the  methods  of  accjuiring  land  and  of  valuing  it  so  as  to  insure 
that  land  can  be  obtained  at  reasonable  prices. 

As  already  stated,  there  is  a  Committee  on  the  question  of  by-laws 
under  tlie  chairmanship  of  Mr.   Stephen   Walsh,  M.P. 

A  Committee,  too,  has  recently  been  appointed  (of  whom  Lord 
Hunter  is  Chairman)  to  consider  the  legislation  embodied  in  the 
Increase  of  Rent  and  Mortgage  Interest  (War  Restrictions)  Act, 
1915,  and  its  amendments,  in  relation  to  housing  after  the  war,  and 
to  recommend  what  steps  should  be  taken  to  remove  any  difficulties 
which  may  arise  in  connection  with  it. 

While  it  is  necessary  to  regard  the  provision  of  new  houses  as  the 
first  call  upon  the  efforts  of  Local  Authorities,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  it  will  be  necessary  also  to  deal  with  slum  dwellings  and 
slum  areas. 

Among  other  matters  under  consideration  are  possible  amendments 
of  Part  I.  of  the  Finance  (1909-10)  Act,  of  Rating,  and  of  adapta- 
tion of  middle-class  houses  to  meet  the  requirements  of  workers. 

CONCLUSION 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  Government  is  taking  active  steps  to 
prepare  to  deal  with  the  vast  housing  problem  which  will  arise  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  war,  but  it  cannot  be  stated  too  strongly  that  much 
of  the  success  of  the  schemes  under  consideration  will  depend  upon 
the  active  cooperation  of  the  people  generally.  It  is  important  that 
all  citizens  should  be  fully  alive  to  the  largeness  of  the  task  to  be 
accomplished.  The  matter  should  be  discussed  and  considered  from 
every  point  of  view.  Local  considerations  should  be  taken  into 
account,  and  where  necessary  pressure  should  be  brought  to  bear 
upon  members  of  Local  Councils  where  it  is  felt  that  they  are  not 
sufficiently  active.  It  is  only  by  the  cooperation  of  all  that  the  ideal 
will  be  achieved. 


APPENDIX  B 

REPORT  BY  MINISTRY  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

ON 

RAW  MATERIALS  AND  EMPLOYMENT 

The  supply  of  raw  materials  for  industry  is  a  fundamental  prob- 
lem of  reconstruction.  Demobilization,  resettlement,  the  revival  of 
industry  both  for  home  consumption  and  for  export,  all  depend  upon 
an  adequate  supply  and  a  reasonable  distribution  of  raw  materials. 
When  the  men  and  women  who  have  been  doing  munition  work  have 
been  discharged  and  when  the  men  return  from  the  Army,  it  will  be 
absolutely  essential  that  cotton  and  wool  and  leather  and  iron  ore  and 
other  raw  materials  should  be  obtainable  in  large  quantities. 

No  one  can  foresee  exactly  what  the  situation  will  be  for  some 
months  to  come,  but  we  can  make  estimates  of  our  probable  needs 
and  we  can  make  provision  for  possible  dangers  of  the  transition 
from  war  to  peace.  The  problems  interlock  one  with  another.  One 
industry  can  go  ahead  only  if  others  also  are  at  work,  and  all  our 
British  industries  are  dependent  ultimately  upon  the  supply  of  raw 
material  from  abroad,  and,  therefore,  upon  our  ships.  But  we  must 
concentrate  our  attention  here  upon  the  material,  leaving  the  position 
with  regard  to  shipping  for  consideration  elsewhere. 

We  shall  pass  by  for  our  present  purpose  all  raw  material  which 
is  not  imported  into  the  United  Kingdom.  Some  of  our  ore  and 
some  wool  is  produced  here ;  and  its  production  is  largely  dependent 
upon  the  amount  of  labor  available.  The  same  is  true  of  brick  and 
cement,  the  raw  materials  for  the  building  trades.  But  as  soon  as 
demobilization  begins  we  shall  probably  have  enough  labor  to  put 
into  our  home  production,  and  therefore  it  is  onlj^  imported  raw 
materials  which  constitute  a  problem.  It  is  possible,  however,  to 
state  that  the  situation  will  not  be  so  difficult  as  it  was,  until  a  few 
months  ago,  expected  to  be.  The  supply  of  raw  materials  is  not 
likely  to  be  seriously  deficient,  even  in  regard  to  those  industries  for 
which  it  will  fall  short  of  the  normal  supply.  What  is  needed  is 
careful  supervision  to  avoid  waste  rather  than  any  drastic  measures 
of  Government  control. 

There  are  many  different  aspects  of  this  problem  of  the  supply  of 
imported  raw  material.     Our  financial  standing  as  a  nation  is  de- 

235 


J236  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

pendent  upon  imported  raw  material  for  the  production  of  goods  for 
export.  Our  cotton  trade,  for  example,  is  a  great  part  of  our  export 
trade,  and  cotton  manufacture  in  England  is  entirely  dependent  upon 
imports.  Again,  if  we  do  not  secure  a  sui)ply  of  impcjrted  raw 
material  for  the  boot  and  shoe  trade,  or  the  woolen  trade,  our  manu- 
facturers of  machinery  will,  be  unable  to  find  suliicient  orders. 

Employment,  however,  is  a  more  urgent  problem  than  the  problem 
of  finance  and  commerce;  and  employment  depends  upon  imported 
raw  material.  It  is  therefore  onl^  from  this  point  of  view  that  we 
shall  here  attempt  to  describe  the  situation  with  which  we  shall  be 
faced  (luring  the  transition  from  war  to  peace.  There  were  about 
2,300,000  men  and  700,000  women  in  the  metal  and  chemical  trades 
during  the  War.  Most  of  these  women  and  about  200,000  of  these 
men  will  be  leaving  their  occupation  and  seeking  for  non-munitions 
work.  About  three  or  four  million  men  will  come  back  from  the 
fighting  forces;  and  there  will  be  a  considerable  transference  from 
one  industry  to  another.  But  the  industries  which  now  have  less 
labor  than  they  had  in  July,  1914,  are  precisely  those  which  need 
imported  raw  material.  For  example,  the  building  industry  has 
about  460,000  men  less  than  it  then  had,  the  textile  industries  200,000 
less,  the  paper  and  printing  industries  100,000  less.  Those  numbers 
show  that  there  will  be  work  for  all  returning  men  and  ex-munition 
workers  if  we  have  raw  material.  We  need  cotton,  wool,  timber, 
wood-pulp,  and  many  other  materials  from  abroad.  That  is  the 
general  nature  of  the  problem :  but  we  can  be  yet  more  precise ;  and 
for  this  purpose  it  will  be  necessary  to  review  shortly  the  probable 
position  at  the  end  of  the  War  in  the  chief  industries  which  depend 
upon  imported  raw  material. 

METAIi  TRADES 

Our  Iron  and  Steel  and  Engineering  industries  depend  upon 
about  7,000,000  tons  of  iron  ore  imported  in  a  year.  In  1913  out  of 
the  7,442,249  tons  imported  4,714,039  tons  came  from  Spain,  and 
since  the  proportion  of  ore  in  our  imports  has  been  maintained 
during  the  War  for  the  sake  of  munitions,  there  will  certainly  be  no 
shortage.  If,  however,  the  German  demand  revives  after  the  War, 
and  unless  the  present  control  is  retained,  the  price  of  Spanish  ore 
may  rise  considerably. 

The  problem  on  which  employment  depends  in  the  engineering 
and  allied  industries  is  that  of  price  and  distribution.  Great  num- 
bers of  men  and  women  will  naturally  leave  the  metal  trades  now 
that  the  urgent  need  for  munitions  has  ceased;  but  because  of  the 


APPENDIX  B  237 

need  for  engineering  products  throughout  the  world  there  will  prob- 
ably be  more  employment  in  engineering  than  there  was  in  1914. 
The  various  metal  trades  then  employed  about  1,634,000  men  and 
170,000  women ;  and,  so  far  as  the  supply  of  material  goes,  the  only 
problem  will  be  that  of  the  price  of  imported  ore. 

With  regard  to  the  supplies  of  material  for  the  metal  trad-^s,  the 
Minister  of  Reconstruction  spoke  as  follows  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, on  November  12th : — 

".  ,  .  There  has  been  a  great  increase  in  our  capacity  for  the 
utilization  of  home  ore  and  arrangements  are  being  made  by  the 
Shipping  Controller  which  will  render  it  possible  to  import  as  large 
a  quantity  of  foreign  ore  as  was  imported  prior  to  the  War.  It  is 
proposed  to  release  iron  and  steel  forthwith.  The  difficulties  which 
may  arise  owing  to  the  fact  that  through  the  exigencies  of  war  the 
price  of  steel  now  stands  at  an  artificial  level  have  not  been  over- 
looked, and  it  is  intended  to  continue  orders  fixing  for  a  period  a 
maximum  price  for  steel,  though  this  may  involve  continuing  some 
measure  of  Government  assistance  for  that  period. 

"With  regard  to  other  metals,  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  assure  the 
House  that  there  is  a  sufficient  supply  available  to  render  it  possible 
to  release  some  from  control  now  and  nearly  all  the  rest  within  six 
months.  I  am  convinced  after  a  close  survey  of  the  position  that  we 
shall  be  able  to  meet  the  demands  which  reconstruction  will  make  on 
our  resources.  But  while  I  am  satisfied  that  there  will  be  enough 
for  all  if  it  is  equitably  divided,  there  must  be  no  selfish  attempts 
on  the  part  of  individuals  to  secure  more  than  their  share,  and  for 
this  purpose  it  may  be  necessary  to  take  precautions  against  hoard- 
ing. 

"Steps  are  being  taken  in  the  meantime  to  secure  the  release  of 
much  usable  stock  and  to  grant  further  supplies  of  metals  to  those 
industries  now  limited  to  a  fixed  ration.  Great  discrimination  will 
be  required  in  the  discharge  of  this  duty,  but  the  various  Controls  will 
call  into  counsel  representatives  of  the  trades  concerned  and  ease 
their  own  task  by  setting  Industry  to  govern  itself." 

As  regards  the  non-ferrous  metals,  a  very  small  amount  of  tin  or 
copper,  for  example,  gives  employment  to  great  numbers,  for  many 
industries  use  a  little  of  each  of  these  metals,  and  without  a  sui)ply 
of  them  many  in  the  engineering  or  brass-working  trades  would  be 
without  employment.  There  is,  however,  no  reason  to  fear  a  short- 
age of  non-ferrous  metals,  and  it  remains  only  to  supervise  the  dis- 
tribution. 


«^a8  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

TEXTILE   INDUSTRIES 

Our  great  Cutlon  industry  is  entirely  dependent  upon  imported 
raw  materials.  Various  kinds  of  raw  eutlon  eouie  to  us  iroui  the 
U.  S.  A.,  from  Egypt,  India,  Brazil,  and  West  Africa.  In  1913  our 
cotton  mills  in  Lancashire  consumed  3,281,509  bales  of  American 
cotton  and  400,000  bales  of  Egyptian  cotton. 

The  number  of  .si)indles  at  work  on  August  31st,  1913,  in  the 
United  Kingdom  was  55,653,000,  which  was  39  per  cent,  of  all  the 
spindles  in  the  world. 

In  July,  1914,  cotton  spinning  and  weaving  employed  about  274,- 
000  men  and  415,000  women;  but  in  1918  there  are  only  157,000 
men  and  379,000  women  employed.  Therefore,  117,000  men  and 
80,000  women  less  than  in  1914  are  dependent  upon  our  present  sup- 
plies, and  of  those  many  are  working  on  short  time.  Will  those 
who  have  gone  out  of  the  industry  and  wish  to  return  find  a  place  as 
soon  as  the  War  is  ended?  Will  the  manufacturers  begin  at  once  to 
work  their  machines  fully? 

It  is  unlikely  that  any  diflSeulty  will  occur  in  finding  a  market  for 
our  cotton  goods,  although  it  is  true  that  some  other  countries,  par- 
ticularly Japan,  have  enlarged  their  place  in  the  world-market  dur- 
ing the  War.  The  general  shortage  of  the  last  few  years  in  the 
supply  of  cotton  goods  has  created  a  large  demand,  and  therefore 
the  problem  of  finding  employment  in  the  cotton  trade  reduces  itself 
to  a  problem  of  the  supply  of  raw  material.  First,  the  allocation  of 
immediately  available  supplies  will  be  necessary,  for  even  before  we 
import  more  we  can  use  our  stocks  more  rapidly  as  soon  as  peace  is 
secure.  During  the  War  the  Cotton  Control  Board  has  regulated 
the  consumption  of  raw  material,  and  it  will  probably  continue  to 
control  the  situation  during  the  transition  to  peace.  The  Board 
consists  of  representatives  of  employers  and  workers  in  the  Cotton 
industry,  together  with  some  Government  officials.  It  has  introduced 
the  principle  of  payment  to  those  workers  who  are  put  on  short 
time  owing  to  a  lack  of  raw  material ;  and  it  practically  insures  the 
workers  against  unemployment  and  under-empIojTnent. 

The  available  supplies  will  probably  be  increased  very  rapidly 
now  that  peace  is  in  sight  and  we  can  release  ships  from  carrying 
munitions  of  war;  and  the  remaining  problem  of  allocation  to  the 
different  mills  will  then  become  easier.  There  will  be  a  world  de- 
mand for  raw  cotton  from  America,  but  so  long  as  the  price  is  not 
prohibitive  there  should  be  enough  to  supply  our  industries.  The 
supply  in  Egypt  is  less  than  it  was  in  1914 — about  800,000  bales  in 
the  place  of  one  million — since  wheat  had  to  be  grown  in  Egypt  in- 


APPENDIX  B  239 

stead  of  cotton;  but  there  is  a  Control  Commission  in  Alexandria 
which  will  presumably  continue  to  exist  for  a  short  time  after  the 
War  in  order  that  the  most  may  be  made  of  such  supplies  as  exist. 
In  the  case  of  cotton,  the  shortage  of  supply  in  other  countries  will 
have  to  be  considered,  and  that  problem  we  shall  refer  to  below. 
But  from  what  has  been  so  far  said  it  will  be  clear  that  adequate 
employment  in  the  trade  cannot  be  secured  unless  there  is  some 
supervision  and  control  of  supplies. 

The  woolen  and  xcorsted  industry,  chiefly  in  Yorkshire,  employed 
in  July,  1914,  about  134,000  men  and  170,000  women.  It  now  em- 
ploys about  100,000  men  and  about  the  same  number  of  women  as 
in  1914.  There  is  therefore  not  much  room  to  take  on  more  workers ; 
and  the  raw  material  now  used  for  army  purposes  can  probably  be 
used  for  peace  production.  But  we  must  allow  for  the  fact  that  the 
returning  armies  in  all  countries  will  need  civilian  clothing,  that 
stocks  of  clothing  are  low  and  that  foreign  markets  are  clamoring 
for  woolen  goods.  Clearly,  therefore,  if  material  is  adequate  there 
may  be  more  employment  in  the  industry  than  in  1914.  No  special 
problem  arises  except  in  regard  to  future  supplies  and  prices  and  the 
possible  danger  to  the  trade  if  the  wool  supplies  of  the  world  are 
competed  for  after  the  War.  Other  countries  are  in  desperate  need 
of  wool ;  and  we  are  now  protected  by  the  circumstances  of  the  War 
from  feeling  the  effect  of  an  abnormal  world-shortage  of  wool. 
Therefore,  although  there  is  no  immediate  danger  of  unemployment 
in  this  trade  owing  to  lack  of  raw  material  in  England,  some  kind  of 
international  organization  may  be  necessary  soon  after  the  War. 

We  have  now  the  Wool  Control  Board,  which  will  probably  con- 
tinue its  operations  during  the  transition  from  war  to  peace ;  and 
there  will  be  the  Wool  Council  to  look  after  the  interests  of  all 
concerned. 

BOOT   AND   SHOE   INDUSTRY 

The  problem  for  the  Boot  and  Shoe  industry  will  be  the  supply  of 
hides  from  America,  of  calf-skins  from  the  Continent,  of  goat-skins 
from  India  and  South  America.  Our  net  imports  in  1913  were  as 
follows :— hides  worth  £3,000,000,  skins  worth  £1,749,000,  and  leather 
worth  £5,057,000.  The  quantities  in  1913  of  our  net  imports  of 
hides  were  727,000  cwts.,  and  of  leather  771,000  ewts. ;  but  in  1915 
the  net  imports  had  risen  to  1,375,000  cwts.  of  hides  and  1,316,000 
cwts.  of  leather.  Special  efforts  had  ])een  made  to  secure  leather  for 
army  boots,  not  only  for  our  own  soldiers  but  for  our  Allies,  and 
some  of  the  stocks  accumulated  may  be  suitable  for  civilian  needs. 


240  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Probably  there  will  not  be  any  lack  of.'  heavy  leathers,  although  light 
leatiier  and  skins  may  be  deliinent  in  quantity. 

The  trade  employed  about  110,000  men  and  50,000  women  in  1914, 
and  now  employs  about  81,000  men  and  71,000  women.  Many  of  the 
men,  however,  are  unskilled  substitutes,  and  they  will  prdljably  be 
replaced  by  skilled  men,  for  the  unskilled  man  may  have  heen  able  to 
work  at  the  standardized  patterns  of  Army  boots  and  civilian  war- 
time boots,  but  his  place  will  have  to  be  taken  by  the  skilled  man 
when  leather  is  available  for  the  better  class  of  boots  after  the  War. 
There  should  be  so  great  a  civilian  demand  that  probably  all  men  in 
the  boot  and  shoe  trade  before  the  War  will  easily  find  emjjloyment. 
Tlie  transition  to  peace  production  will  be  very  rapid  and  there  will 
probably  follow  a  time  of  good  employment — possibly  an  expansion 
of  the  numbers  employed  in  1914.  The  raw  material  problem  is  re- 
duced to  maintaining  generally  the  present  supply  of  hides  which 
are  required  for  the  tanning  of  sole  leather,  and  obtaining  more  of 
the  lighter  dressed  upper  leathers. 

TIJIBER 

The  housing  program  for  after  the  War  depends  partly  upon  the 
supplies  of  timber;  and,  of  course,  the  building  trade  cannot  re- 
sume its  full  activities  until  we  have  timber  enough  in  the  United 
Kingdom.  Building  has  practically  ceased  during  the  War.  In 
July,  1914,  758,000  men  and  5,900  women  were  employed,  and  there 
are  now  employed  only  about  400,000  men  and  25,000  women. 
Those  who  have  left  for  the  Army  or  for  munitions  will  desire  to 
come  back,  and  the  urgent  need  for  houses  makes  it  a  national  inter- 
est that  building  should  revive  speedily.  We  should  need  about 
100,000  standards  of  timber  a  month,  without  regard  to  pit-props 
and  other  uses  for  wood.  We  have  now  on  hand  only  enough  for 
three  months'  use  under  peace  conditions. 

The  supply  depends  upon  shipping,  and  this  may  very  well  be 
available;  but  w^e  have  to  be  on  the  look-out  to  secure  w'.at  timber 
can  be  had.  In  Sweden  and  Finland  there  are  about  2,000,000 
standards;  and  some  600,000  standards  are  sawn  and  ready  for  ship- 
ment from  Canada,  Mexico  and  Scandinavia. 

The  Minister  of  Reconstruction,  in  the  speech  already  referred  to, 
said : — 

"The  position  as  regards  timber  is  diflficult.  It  is  bulkj-  and  our 
tonnage  has  to  be  economized,  but  apart  from  this  there  is  little 
doubt  that  events  in  Russia,  which  has  so  far  been  our  largest  source 
of  supply,  will  seriously  affect  the  situation.    Arrangements  are  in 


APPENDIX  B  241 

hand  to  provide  supplies  from  overseas,  but  it  is  clear  that  continued 
felling  will  be  necessary  at  home  for  some  time  to  come,  and  with 
this  need  in  view  woods  have  been  purchased  ahead  by  the  Timber 
Supplies  Department." 

PAPER-MAKING 

The  important  raw  materials  for  Paper-making  are  wood-pulp 
and  Esparto  grass.  We  were  using  before  the  War  about  81,500 
tons  of  wood-pulp  a  month,  but  only  one-sixth  of  that  amount  is 
now  available  in  the  United  Kingdom.  The  Paper  Controller  was 
compelled  to  restrict  the  use  of  paper  and  the  import  of  pulp ;  and 
other  countries  have  set  up  industries  in  paper  and  printing  since 
the  War. 

In  the  paper-making  and  printing  trades  in  July,  1914,  there  were 
employed  about  260,000  men  and  147,000  women,  and  now  there  are 
employed  160,000  men  and  143,000  women.  The  restricted  employ- 
ment is  largely  due  to  the  lack  of  raw  materials ;  and  there  is  urgent 
need  for  an  increase  in  supply  before  the  men  of  these  trades  are 
demobilized  from  the  Army. 

OTHER  INDUSTRIES 

The  industries  shortly  reviewed  above  are  not  the  only  industries 
dependent  upon  imported  materials.  In  the  first  place,  material 
such  as  rubber  takes  little  tonnage  and  gives  a  large  proportion  of 
employment  as  compared  to  some  other  materials,  and  yet  the  supply 
may  be  deficient  in  view  of  the  immense  demand  consequent  on  the 
War.  And  rubber  is  important  not  only  for  those  who  work  at 
rubber  manufactures,  but  because  so  many  other  trades  depend  upon 
or  are  closely  connected  with  its  use.  Motor  and  cycle  makers,  for 
instance,  are  in  that  position;  and  these  trades  before  the  War  em- 
ployed about  118,000  men  and  10,500  women. 

The  food  production  industries  are  largely  dependent  upon  im- 
ported raw  material ;  and  quite  apart  from  the  maintenance  of  food 
supplies  the  import  of  sugar,  cocoa  and  other  such  articles  is  neces- 
sary for  the  employment  of  thousands  of  workers. 

In  this  connection  we  may  note  the  peculiar  problem  of  women's 
employment.  Most  women  in  industry  before  the  War  were  em- 
ployed in  the  textile,  clothing,  and  food-production  industries;  and 
these  are  precisely  the  industries  which  are  most  dependent  upon 
imported  raw  material.  Now,  during  the  War  about  a  million  more 
women  have  come  into  industry  than  were  in  industry  in  1914. 
Many  of  these  went  from  dress-making  and  millinery,  many  from 


^42  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

(lonifstic  s(!rvi('c',  many  iroiu  llieir  home-work.  The  number  of 
wotiKTi  cniployi'd  outside  their  own  homes  and  exclusively  of  domes- 
tice  service  in  l!>i4  was  3,27G,()U0.  It  is  estimated  tiiat  about  400,000 
during-  the  War  have  left  domestic  service  and  dress-njaliing  in  order 
to  enter  industry,  and  at  tlie  close  of  the  War  about  4,80!J,000 
women  wei'e  employed  in  industry  and  commerce.  But  even  if  those 
who  were  employed  at  home  and  in  domestic  service  return  to  their 
former  work,  there  will  still  be  a  surplus  of  women  in  industry  on 
the  pre-war  basis.  If  men  are  unemployed,  work  may  be  found  in 
road-making  or  in  building  or  in  other  "heavy"  occupations.  But 
none  of  these  occupations  provides  employment  for  women;  and, 
indeed,  tlie  truth  is  that  there  is  no  "stop-gap"  occupation  which  may 
be  used  if  great  numbers  of  women  are  unemjdoyed.  The  only  im- 
mediate remedy  for  possible  unemployment  is  the  expansion  of  the 
demand  for  women  in  the  careers  they  normally  followed  before  the 
War. 

The  supply  of  imported  raw  materials  is  therefore  of  the  first 
importance  for  the  emjiloyment  of  women.  The  more  textile  and 
food  material  we  have,  the  more  easily  we  shall  be  able  to  find  places 
for  all  the  women  who  wish  to  continue  in  the  mills  and  the  work- 
shops. 

Again,  we  cannot  afford  to  neglect  the  situation  outside  the  United 
Kingdom,  if  we  are  to  understand  the  problem  of  raw  materials. 
The  sources  of  our  supply  are  in  many  instances  the  same  as  the 
sources  of  supply  for  France  and  Italy.  France,  for  example,  im- 
ported 346,160,000  kilograms  of  raw  cotton  in  1912,  and  Italy  214,- 
086,000  kilograms.  France  had  in  1912  about  seven  million  spindles 
and  Italy  four  and  a  half  millions.  According  to  the  1906  Census 
the  number  of  persons  employed  in  France  in  the  Cotton  industry 
was  167,000,  and  in  the  Clothing  trades,  which  depended  on  Cotton 
and  Wool,  about  938,900  were  employed.  The  textile  industries  in 
Italy  in  1911  employed  only  30,780  persons,  so  some  of  the  Italian 
imports  must  have  gone  elsewhere  to  be  manufactured.  It  is,  how- 
ever, obvious  that  the  supplies  of  cotton  should  not  be  thought  of 
simply  in  the  terms  of  our  own  needs.  We  owe  it  to  our  Allies  to 
see  that  they  too  have  employment.  And  even  if  we  allow  for 
destruction  of  machines  and  men  during  the  War,  it  is  clear  that  in 
those  countries  also  the  Governments  will  desire  raw  material  to 
give  employment  before  they  demobilize  their  armies  and  discharge 
their  munition  workers. 

We  should  also  consider  the  position  of  Germany,  should  she  be 
without  raw  material  for  the  textile  industries.  In  1913  Germany 
imported  cotton  worth  600  million  marks  and  wool  worth  400  mil- 


APPENDIX  B  243 

lion  marks.  In  Saxony,  where  the  textile  industry  is  chiefly  carried 
on,  in  1912  there  were  255,766  persons  employed  in  various  textile 
trades.  They  now  have  no  cotton.  But  if  we  want  them  all  to  con- 
tribute to  the  restoration  of  devastated  territories,  we  shall  have  to 
give  them  employment.  Wliatever  policy,  therefore,  is  adopted,  full 
consideration  must  be  given  to  the  position  of  the  various  nations. 
To  leave  the  situation  uncontrolled  might  be  disastrous.  Of 
course,  there  may  be  enough  material  to  go  round ;  it  may  be  that 
no  one  will  try  to  "comer"  supplies;  and  it  may  be  that  prices  will 
not  rise  rapidly  as  a  result  of  competitive  buying.  But  we  cannot 
rely  upon  merchants  loving  one  another;  still  less  can  we  rely  on 
their  loving  the  manufacturers.  Therefore,  without  being  unduly 
suspicious,  we  may  have  to  make  preparations  for  supervision  and 
control  of  the  supplies  of  raw  material  on  an  international  scale. 

GENERAL    CONCLUSIONS 

The  important  point  which  must  be  realized  is  that  the  normal 
organization  of  trade  has  been  so  disturbed  by  War  conditions  that 
the  supply  of  raw  materials  cannot  be  left  to  depend  upon  the 
operation  of  forces  at  work  before  the  War.  The  transition  from 
war  to  peace  adds  new  problems  to  those  of  supply  during  the  War; 
and  for  this  reason  the  Government  has  given  special  consideration 
to  the  question  of  raw  material  supply.  The  iirst  danger  to  be 
avoided  is  a  general  scramble.  But  this  involves  some  Government 
control  or  supervision,  to  be  gradually  relaxed  as  the  supplies  be- 
come more  adequate.  The  control  will  exist  only  where  there  is  a 
shortage  of  supply  or  if  there  is  a  shortage  of  ships;  and  it  will 
exist  only  for  the  assistance  of  the  industries  in  the  general  inter- 
ests of  the  nation.  The  next  step  must  be  to  secure  that  materials 
are  provided  for  the  industries  somewhat  in  advance  of  the  demo- 
bilization of  men  from  the  Army  or  the  discharge  from  war  work. 
The  Government  will  therefore  hasten  the  importation  of  material 
in  order  to  shorten  the  period  of  demobilization. 

In  view  of  the  danger  of  unemployment,  special  consideration 
must  be  given  to  those  trades  which  give  employment  to  a  large  num- 
ber of  persons.  Cotton,  for  example,  may  have  to  take  precedence 
of  timber.  And  secondly,  if  great  numbers  are  employed  in  any 
trade  on  raw  material  which  does  not  take  up  much  tonnage,  some 
precedence  should  be  given  to  such  raw  material.  The  principle, 
therefore,  according  to  which  we  must  allocate  our  tonnage  for  im- 
ports of  raw  material  must  involve  a  consideration  of  employment. 

But  the  problem  cannot  be  solved  by  simply  counting  the  number 
employed  in  one  industry,  since  the  raw  material  for  one  industry 


244  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

may  set  going  many  other  subordinate  trades.  F'rom  this  point  of 
view  timber  may  be  more  important  than  cotton,  if  the  building 
trades  can  set  going  all  dependent  trades  such  as  furnishing,  sanitary 
engineering,  and  the  rest. 

It  will  be  understood  that  it  is  no  part  of  our  purjjose  here  to 
decide  which  trades  should  take  precedence  or  which  iinpcjrted  mate- 
rial will  cnij)loy  most  labor.  It  is  sullicient  if  it  be  recognized  by  the 
public  that  the  problem  is  both  urgent  and  very  complex.  It  is 
likely,  as  we  may  learn  from  our  English  habits,  and,  indeed,  from 
the  history  of  all  successful  administration,  that  the  organization  to 
control  the  situation  must  be  tentative  at  first  and  flexible  enough 
to  be  modified  as  the  situation  changes.  We  cannot  have  a  Code 
Napoleon  for  raw  materials. 

THE  ORGANIZATION   OF   CONTROL 

How  is  the  allocation  of  tonnage  and  the  distribution  of  materia! 
among  the  trades  to  be  done?  The  Government  has  established  a 
Priorities  Committee  of  Cabinet  Ministers  on  the  model  of  the 
present  War  Priorities  Committee.  This  will  be  the  ultimate  au- 
thority for  allocating  raw  materials;  and  it  will  naturally  see  that 
the  needs  of  the  State  take  pi'ecedence  of  the  requirements  of  in- 
dustry; for  example,  in  the  case  of  material  for  building. 

Secondly,  a  Standing  Council  has  been  established  consisting  of 
leading  men  in  industry  and  commerce,  together  with  representa- 
tives of  labor  and  of  the  departments  chiefly  concerned.  This 
Council  will  advise  the  Cabinet  Committee  on  the  allocation  of  ton- 
nage to  the  different  materials  and  the  distribution  of  them  to  the 
industries.  It  will  practically  decide  on  the  amount  which  industry 
can  have. 

The  Standing  Council  will  naturally  take  account  and  make  use 
of  the  organization  for  the  control  of  raw  material  which  already 
exists. 

During  the  war  period  the  principal  of  raw  materials  of  in- 
dustries have  been  in  various  ways  under  strict  Governmental  con- 
trol. This  control  has  been  vested  for  the  most  part  in  three 
departments : — 

Ministry  of  Munitions     Metals  and  ore. 

War  Office  Wool,    hemp,    flax,    jute,   hides    and 

skins,  and  tanning  materials. 
Board  of  Trade  Cotton    (and  miscellaneous). 

The   control   of  materials   required   for   building   has   been   dis- 


APPENDIX  B  U5 

tributed  as  follows:  Ministry  of  Munitions,  steel  and  bricks;  War 
Office,  cement;  the  Timber  Controller  (working  under  the  direction 
of  the  Board  of  Trade),  timber. 

The  central  direction  of  all  these  control  departments  now  lies 
with  the  newly  constituted  Standing  Council  which  meets  at  the 
Ministry  of  Reconstruction,  2  Queen  Anne's  Gate  Buildings,  S.  W. 
This  Council,  which  is  responsible  to  the  Committee  of  Cabinet 
Ministers  (with  offices  at  11,  Pall  Mall,  S.  W.  1),  will  be  charged 
with  the  decision  of  all  questions  relating  to  the  priority  and  the 
allocation  of  materials  in  the  Reconstruction  period,  and  will  de- 
termine whether,  in  any  given  material  control  is  necessary,  and  if  so, 
to  what  extent  and  in  what  form.  It  is  hoped  that  such  control  as 
may  be  necessary  may  be  gradually  more  and  more  devolved  upon 
organizations  representing  the  trades  concerned.  At  present  it  is 
arranged  that  the  Control  Authorities  which  have,  during  the  War, 
controlled  particular  materials  should  "carry  on"  under  a  general 
instruction  that  applications  for  materials  should  be  considered  by 
them  sympathetically  and  upon  a  new  basis.  The  Standing  Coun- 
cil has  been  in  almost  daily  session  since  it  was  formed;  but  it  is 
obvious  that  an  estimate,  both  of  the  requirement  and  supply  of 
materials,  can  only  be  formed  after  a  very  wide  and  careful  survey. 
Pending  the  completion  of  such  a  survey,  it  is  possible  to  speak  only 
in  a  very  general  fashion  as  to  the  probable  situation  with  regard 
to  the  supply  of  materials  in  the  immediate  future,  and  any  state- 
ment must  be  necessarily  of  a  very  guarded  character. 

The  industries  themselves  will  provide  organizations  for  advising 
on  the  demand  for  material  among  the  firms  concerned.  There  will, 
therefore,  be  Trade  Organizations — Industrial  Councils  or  Commit- 
tees in  each  industi*y — whose  advice  will  be  sought  by  the  Govern- 
ment when  the  controlling  authorities  are  considering  the  needs  of 
this  or  that  trade. 

Such  is  the  organization;  but  in  order  to  understand  its  working 
it  is  necessary  to  reverse  the  order  we  have  named,  for  the  success 
of  the  scheme  will  depend  upon  the  vitality  and  energy  of  those 
actually  engaged  in  industrj\ 

If  the  industries  are  prepared  to  say  what  material  they  need 
and  what  number  they  can  employ,  the  organization  we  have  briefly 
described  will  be  able  to  set  to  work  in  the  early  days  of  peace; 
and  it  is  hoped  that  the  procedure  will  be  of  the  following  kind. 

The  industries  should  each  have  some  fully  representative  organ- 
ization which  will  put  before  the  Government,  among  other  things, 
the  need  for  raw  material.  Presumably  a  Joint  Industrial  Council 
will  have  a  Committee  to  consider  this  need ;  and  special  Committees 


246  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

will  be  set  up  in  those  industries  in  whicli  no  Joint  Inrlustrial 
Council  exists.  It  will  be  for  the  industries  to  arrange  the  com- 
position of  the  Committees;  hut  most  of  those  so  far  set  up  and 
recognized  by  the  Government  are  joint  Committees,  containing 
both  lal)or  representatives  and  representatives  of  tlie  employers. 
It  will  be  easily  understood  that  since  employment  in  so  many  cases 
depends  upon  the  amount  of  raw  material  obtained  and  the  method 
of  its  distribution,  representatives  of  labor  are  very  much  inter- 
ested in  raw  material  supply.  The  Government  has  accepted  the 
recommendations  of  the  Whitley  Committee  in  regard  to  .Joint  In- 
dustrial Councils;  and  the  Ministry  of  Labor  has  been  able  to  pro- 
mote organization  in  many  industries.  The  Ministry  of  Recon- 
struction meanwhile  has  brought  into  existence  various  joint  Com- 
mittees known  as  Interim  Industrial  Reconstruction  Committees. 
All  such  bodies,  therefore,  will  naturally  give  attention  to  raw  ma- 
terial supply. 

Some  of  the  work  of  reviewing  the  need  for  raw  materials  has 
already  been  done;  and  various  special  Committees  of  representa- 
tives of  industry  have  already  made  recommendations  to  the  Ministry 
of  Reconstruction.  The  problems  these  Committees  have  consid- 
ered are  indicated  in  their  terms  of  reference,  which  were  generally 
as  follows: — 

To  consider  and  report  upon — 

The  nature  and  amount  of  supplies  of  materials  and  foodstuffs 
which  in  their  opinion  will  be  required  by  the  United  Kingdom  dur- 
ing the  period  which  will  elapse  between  the  termination  of  the  War 
and  the  restoration  of  a  normal  condition  of  trade;  and  the  steps 
which  should  be  taken  to  procure  these  supplies,  having  regard  to : — 

(a)  The  probable  requirements  of  India,  the  Dominions  and 
Crown  Colonies  for  such  supplies  at  the  close  of  hostilities. 

(6)  The  probable  requirements  of  belligerents  and  neutrals  for 
such  supplies  at  the  close  of  hostilities. 

(c)  The  sources  from  which,  and  the  conditions  under  which  such 
supplies  can  be  obtained  and  transported  and,  in  particular,  the  ex- 
tent to  which  they  might  be  obtained  from  the  United  Kingdom  or 
within  the  Empire  or  from  Allied  or  Neutral  countries. 

Representative  joint  Committees  of  the  different  trades  will  have 
to  consider  similar  problems;  but  their  first  task  will  be  to  collect 
from  the  firms  or  associations  concerned  information  as  to  the 
amount  of  labor  they  can  employ,  the  rapidity  with  which  their 
machinery  can  be  set  going  on  "peace"  production,  and  the  amount 
of  raw  material  they  could  use  on  this  machinery.  If  the  full 
amount  cannot  be  supplied  at  once,  the  responsible  organization 


APPENDIX  B  247 

representing  the  industry  may  have  to  allocate  a  proportion  to  the 
different  firms,  perhaps  following  the  plan  adopted  by  the  Cotton 
Control  Board.  It  will  obviously  be  more  in  the  national  interest 
if  many  firms  employ  many  persons  working  on  short  time  rather 
than  that  a  few  firms  should  be  working  a  few  employees  very  hard 
while  no  employment  is  obtainable  under  other  firms  in  the  same 
trade. 

If  we  suppose,  then,  that  the  trades  have  made  a  review  of  their 
needs  and  have  indicated  to  the  Ministry  of  Labor  the  number  of 
persons  they  can  employ  and  the  rate  at  which  new  employees  can 
be  taken  on,  the  representative  Committee  then  passes  on  to  the 
Standing  Council  the  statement  of  the  requirements  of  the  industry 
for  raw  material. 

The  Standing  Council  will  have  to  adjust  the  claims  of  the  dif- 
ferent industries.  The  members  of  that  Council  will  be  informed 
of  the  supplies  available  and,  presumably,  of  any  questions  of 
general  policy  which  will  affect  the  raw  material  supply.  It  is 
contemplated  that  there  shall  be  an  Imperial  Board  to  consider  in 
relation  to  the  problems  of  the  Standing  Council  the  supplies  ob- 
tainable within  the  Empire.  The  Dominions  Royal  Commission  has 
already  reported  on  certain  improvements  which  may  be  undertaken 
in  coordinating  the  commerce  and  industry  of  the  British  Empire; 
and  in  their  reports  will  be  found  further  details  as  to  the  raw 
material  we  usually  imported  before  the  War  from  other  parts  of 
the  Empire  and  from  foreign  countries. 

It  will  be  the  task  of  the  Standing  Council  not  only  to  allocate 
as  much  raw  material  as  can  be  carried  between  the  different  in- 
dustries, but  also  to  see  that  there  is  an  organization  for  arranging 
for  the  distribution  of  the  material  within  each  industry  which 
needs  to  be  rationed.  Thus,  as  far  as  possible,  advice  on  the  need 
for  supplies  will  be  sought  from  representatives  of  the  industries. 
The  principle  of  control  where  control  exists  will  be  quite  different 
from  the  war-time  control  by  the  State,  for  the  State  in  time  of  war 
is  buyer  and  user  of  most  of  the  commodities  controlled,  but  as 
soon  as  peace  is  secured,  private  purchase  and  private  use  will 
begin  again  to  dominate  the  markets. 

It  is,  therefore,  essential  that  the  control  should  not  be  from 
above,  but  should  be  exercised  by  those  immediately  concerned  in 
industry;  and,  further,  obviously  fewer  materials  will  need  to  be 
controlled  in  proportion  as  we  return  to  normal  life.  The  findings 
of  the  Standing  Council  will  be  put  before  the  Cabinet  Committee 
for  post-war  priorities;  and  this  Cabinet  Committee  will  have  the 
duty  of  finally  deciding  the  proportion  of  tonnage  to  be  allotted 


248  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

to  the  different  imported  raw  materials.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  in 
the  case  of  most  of  the  raw  materials  the  need  for  this  aUocation  will 
pass  very  soon  after  peace  is  secured.  The  critical  time  comes  with 
the  demobilization  of  the  Forces  and  the  discharge  ot  civil  war- 
workers.  It  is  clear  that  coordination  between  the  rate  of  discharge 
and  the  amount  of  raw  material  to  give  employment  can  be  secured 
only  by  a  large  view  of  the  whole  problem.  But  as  soon  as  the 
returning  soldiers  and  the  discharged  munition  workers  obtain  em- 
ployment they  will  provide  employment  for  others.  For  exani|)le, 
the  more  speedily  our  textile  manufacture  turns  to  full  "peace" 
production,  tlie  more  workers  will  be  required  in  the  clotiiing  trades 
and  in  the  various  occupations,  in  shops  and  stores,  by  which  goods 
are  distributed. 

Not  only  will  the  different  industries  have  to  be  thought  of,  but 
also  the  different  localities.  It  may  in  some  cases  be  necessary  to 
give  opportunities  for  employment  in  places  in  which  none  of  the 
greater  industries  is  found.  Therefore  the  raw  material  supplies 
may  have  to  be  so  distributed  that  certain  towns  may  have  a  share 
quite  apart  from  their  importance  as  industrial  centers.  Lace,  for 
example,  is  not  an  urgently  needed  article  for  reconstruction,  but 
the  lace  trade  employs  so  many  that  it  may  be  in  the  national  in- 
terest to  give  it  priority  to  some  non-essential  trade  which  employs 
few,  and  the  lace  trade  is  in  certain  districts  which  may  need  special 
consideration. 

It  will  be  understood  that  the  examples  we  have  given  are  purely 
hypothetical,  as  there  is  no  reason  to  expect  any  particular  crisis 
in  this  or  that  industry  or  in  this  or  that  district.  The  organiza- 
tion which  we  have  described  is  to  work  for  the  avoidance  of  a 
danger;  it  is  not  created  to  cure  an  evil  already  in  existence.  Fore- 
sight is  what  is  required. 

Over  all  control  there  will  remain  for  a  time  some  of  the  present 
inter-Ally  machinery  for  securing  supplies;  for  we  must  suppose 
that  in  obtaining  and  allocating  supplies  to  our  own  industries 
due  regard  will  be  paid  to  the  needs  of  the  devastated  territories 
of  Belgium,  France,  and  Serbia.  Moreover,  we  are  bound  in  honor 
to  consider  the  needs  of  French  and  Italian  industry. 

The  organization  of  the  control  by  which  food  and  raw  materials 
will  be  distributed  by  the  Allies  is  the  subject  of  another  pamphlet 
in  this  series.  But  a  short  summary  of  the  situation  may  be  given 
here  in  order  to  complete  the  description  of  the  supply  of  raw  ma- 
terials. We  have  had  during  the  War  an  Allied  Maritime  Trans- 
port Council,  which  allocated  the  tonnage  for  the  various  imports 
to  the  countries  of  the  alliance.     This  Council  was  advised  by  Pro- 


APPENDIX  B  249 

gram  Committees,  which  drew  up  lists  of  the  requirements  of  the 
different  nations  for  this  or  that  material.  But  there  have  been  also 
organizations  for  the  joint  purchase  of  foods  needed  by  all  the  Allies. 
It  was  found  that  if  each  country  attempted  to  buy  separately  in 
North  or  South  America,  the  price  was  forced  up :  and  yet  it  was 
not  to  the  advantage,  for  example,  of  France  or  England  that  either 
should  pay  more  because  the  other  was  buying.  An  arrangement 
was,  therefore,  made  for  joint  purchases,  and  this  has  been  effective 
chiefly  in  regard  to  foodstuffs.  In  regard  to  wool  for  army  cloth- 
ing the  British  Government  has  had  control  of  most  of  the  sup- 
plies, and  an  adjustment  is  made  between  the  needs  of  the  different 
Allies.  In  regard  to  cotton,  the  United  States  Government  con- 
trols the  sale  in  the  States,  and  the  British  Government  controls 
the  whole  of  the  Egyptian  crop.  But  it  has  been  recognized  during 
the  War  that  such  material  as  was  available  was  to  be  allocated 
according  to  the  needs  of  the  different  countries,  and  this  principle 
cannot  cease  to  be  applied  in  the  difficult  time  of  transition  from 
war  to  peace.  We  must  therefore  expect  to  find  for  some  time  an 
international  arrangement  for  the  control  of  raw  materials. 

The  whole  scheme  involves  much  difficult  adjustment  of  claims, 
and  an  organization  equal  to  the  problem  is  now  being  worked  out. 
This  is  already  partly  in  existence;  some  of  the  War  organization 
needing  only  modification  to  adapt  it  to  peace.  But  the  greatest 
need  will  be  public  and  general  cooperation  among  all  concerned  in 
industry.  The  ordinary  citizen  can  do  very  much  to  smooth  the 
crossing  from  war  to  peace. 


APPENDIX  C 
THE   EMPLOYMENT    EXCHANGE    P^ROM   WITHIN 

A   DAY    WITH    THE   MANAGER 

(From  Report  to  Ministry  of  Labor) 

Managers  of  Employment  Exchanges,  in  the  variety,  number  and 
novelty  of  the  things  which  fill  their  crowded  hours,  yield  to  no 
other  class  of  public  servant.  Take  these  leaves  from  the  life  of 
one  amongst  them.  A  mass  of  correspondence  reaches  him  daily. 
Most  of  it  will  deal  with  routine  matters,  but  each  letter  must  be  ex- 
amined, and  20  or  30  will  require  personal  attention.  Meanwhile  the 
telephone  will  have  rung  and  various  questions  have  been  answered, 
necessitating  reference  to  a  volume  of  instructions,  an  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment, a  Statutory  Order  or  a  file  of  papers.  The  questions  are 
varied,  and  will  range  from  a  request  for  advice  about  an  opening 
for  a  son  to  an  employer  asking  "What's  this  about  I2V2  per 
cent.?" 

The  post-bag  is  always  interesting,  if  rather  overwhelming.  The 
following  will  indicate  the  variety  of  the  inquiries  which  reach  an 
Exchange.  An  Englishwoman  in  California  desires  to  return  to 
England,  and  is  refused  a  passport  unless  she  has  a  guarantee  of 
work;  will  the  manager  say  whether  the  Consul  is  entitled  to  make 
this  stipulation?  Another  lady  seeks  war  work  for  her  dog.  A 
wife,  whose  husband  has  failed  to  communicate  with  her,  inquires 
for  his  address.  Then  there  are  the  people  who,  needless  to  say, 
will  "write  to  the  Government  about  it,"  all  of  whioli  communica- 
tions come  to  the  Manager  for  investigation  and  report;  and  no 
communication  from  an  ambassador  could  receive  more  punctilious 
attention. 

Department  circulars  and  instructions  will  usually  occupy  the 
next  hour  or  two.  Meantime  the  Manager  has  smoothed  out  some 
difficulty  about  a  War  Munition  Volunteer,  Women  for  the  Land,  or 
some  other  of  the  many  corps  recruited  through  an  Exchange. 
The  next  item  is  visits  to  local  firms  to  clear  up  matters  requiring 
a  personal  interview. 

250 


APPENDIX  C  251 

Arriving  back,  he  finds  a  workman  waiting.  The  man  is  badly 
needed  at  a  distance,  but  prefers  a  job  nearer  home.  The  clerk 
has  been  trying  to  persuade  him  to  take  up  the  more  urgent  work. 
There  is  no  power  to  compel  it,  and  the  Manager  has  only  his  own 
personality  to  depend  upon  in  such  cases.  Presently  he  finds  him- 
self with  a  non-union  workman  complaining  that  favor  is  shown  to 
Society  men  at  the  Exchange  (or  it  may  equally  likely  be  a  Society 
man  complaining  of  favor  in  the  reverse  direction).  The  Manager 
usually  has  the  matter  cleared  up  sooner  or  later,  for  the  com- 
plaining workman,  once  he  is  shown  the  actual  working  of  the 
Exchange  system,  and  treated  as  a  sort  of  partner  in  the  concern, 
is  usually  a  fair-minded  man  and  open  to  conviction. 

Meals  are  hurried  matters  in  Exchanges,  and  our  Manager  will 
probably  have  other  visits  to  firms  to  pay  after  his  lunch.  On  his 
return  to  the  Exchange  he  finds  a  mass  of  correspondence,  reports 
and  returns  to  be  examined  and  sent  away.  Somehow  he  will  find 
time  to  consult  with  the  Military  Tribunal,  the  Food  Control  Com- 
mittee, or  some  other  Department  with  which  his  work  is  associated. 
Questions  will  arise  as  to  Unemployment  Insurance,  Military  Service, 
Restricted  Occupations,  permits  for  aliens  to  work  upon  munitions, 
transfer  of  Munition  Volunteers  desiring  a  change.  Men  in  all 
parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  even  abroad,  will  write  to  their  Exchange 
as  to  being  released  for  work  upon  munitions  or  farms.  Occasion- 
ally a  soldier  will  write  to  ask  why  his  wife  has  been  recruited  for  the 
Women's  Army  Corps.  Another — such  is  the  contrariety  of  hu- 
man nature — will  ask  why  his  wife  has  not  been  recruited.  Scores 
of  questions  arise  outside  the  business  of  an  Exchange  altogether — 
Health  Insurance  is  a  favorite — and  one  Manager  has  been  threat- 
ened with  serious  trouble  because  he  had  not  removed  the  dust  of 
an  irate  householder.  All  these  questions  must  receive  careful  at- 
tention before  an  answer  is  given.  The  mistakes  of  the  public 
servant  do  not  end  quietly  or  quickly;  they  meander  on  for  months 
around  Whitehall,  in  and  out  of  the  newspapers,  and  perhaps  into 
the  House  of  Commons. 

The  Manager  of  an  Exchange  must  make  himself  master  of  a 
dozen  or  twenty  Acts  of  Parliament,  wnth  all  their  attendant  Regu- 
lations. The  Statutory  Orders  touching  his  work  are  numbered  in 
hundreds.  Not  only  must  he  know  these,  but  he  must  be  able  to 
explain  them — quite  another  quality' — and  to  explain  them  in  such 
a  way  that  workers  unaccustomed  to  legal  phrases  and  formulae 
may  be  able  to  understand  them.  War  legislation  is  a  hurried 
matter,  and  consequently  teems  with  difficulties,  but  your  Exchange 
Manager  has  to  see  it  through.     That  writer  who  described  officials 


262  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

as  never  taking:  responsibility  or  acting  without  precedent  would  re- 
ceive a  shock  from  a  day  with  the  Manager  of  an  Exchange. 

The  evenings  are  frequently  occupied  with  Committee  meetings, 
and  it  is  a  tired  man  who  finds  himself  about  9. 30  p.  M,  eating  the 
meal  which  should  have  been  consumed  several  hours  earlier.  Many 
Managers  serve  upon  six  committees  in  addition  to  their  ordinary 
duties. 

Even  in  sleep  their  trials  are  not  ended.  One  was  aroused  at  2 
A.  M.  by  twenty  fitters,  arrived  to  carry  out  urgent  work  in  a  dock- 
yard, and  the  Manager,  pausing  only  to  add  to  his  scanty  night  attire, 
set  out  to  conduct  them  thither. 

Somewhere  amongst  all  this  our  Manager  must  find  time  to  see 
to  repairs  of  his  premises,  applications  by  his  staff,  supplies  of 
furniture  and  of  stationery,  of  coals,  soap  and  candles,  for  no 
servant  of  the  Empire,  from  Governor-General  to  village  policeman, 
is  more  completely  responsible  for  his  district.  But  they  are  mostly 
men  accustomed  to  responsibility  from  their  early  days.  Some  have 
been  heads  of  departments  in  commercial  life,  others  were  fore- 
men in  workshops,  and  many  were  leaders  and  organizers  of  trade 
unions. 

Life  for  a  Manager  is  never  dull,  whatever  else  it  may  be.  Here 
and  there  they  are  wearing  out;  they  will  never  rust  out. 


APPENDIX  D 

REPORT  OF  A  CONFERENCE 

Between  Organizers  op  Trade  Unions,  Bristol  Employers  and 

OTHERS     concerned     WITH     THE     INDUSTRIAL     EMPLOYMENT     OF 

Women,  convened  by  The  Bristol  Association  for  Indus- 
trial Reconstruction,  on  the  16th  and  17th  March,  1918, 
ON  The  Position  of  Women  in  Industry  After  the  War. 

I.   GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS 

(1)  At  the  present  time  it  is  estimated  that  not  less  than  4,713,- 
000  women  are  engaged  in  industrial  occupations,  covering  well- 
nigh  the  whole  field  of  industry.  At  the  end  of  the  War  a  very 
large  number  of  these  women  will  be  displaced  as  war  industries 
are  shut  down  and  factories  gradually  pass  from  a  war  to  a  peace 
footing.  As  soon  as  an  armistice  is  declared  a  large  number  of 
women  will  be  discharged  from  the  various  munition  factories,  and 
on  the  declaration  of  peace,  factories  in  every  part  of  the  country 
will  discharge  many  thousands  of  women  workers. 

(2)  The  absorption  of  scores  of  thousands  of  women  thus  dis- 
placed from  occupations  which  they  have  followed  for  a  prolonged 
period  will  create  a  series  of  industrial  problems  of  an  exceedingly 
grave  character. 

A  large  number  of  women  now  employed  in  industry  have  en- 
tered industrial  life  for  the  first  time  since  the  outbreak  of  war. 
While,  doubtless,  many  at  the  termination  of  hostilities  will  be 
anxious  to  resume  their  normal  mode  of  life,  and  leave  industrial 
occupations,  it  seems  clear  that  a  very  large  number,  for  one  reason 
or  another,  will  elect  to  remain  in  industry.  Some  have  found  a  new 
freedom  in  their  work,  and  are  disinclined  to  return  to  the  com- 
parative monotony  which  is  the  lot  of  the  "stay-at-home"  woman. 
Others,  having  developed  a  real  liking  for  their  work,  will  wish 
to  continue  it.  Others,  owing  to  the  necessity  of  supporting,  or 
helping  to  support,  male  relations  who  have  been  incapacitated  in 
the  War,  or  owing  to  the  increased  cost  of  living,  or  other  pecuniary 
reasons,  will  of  necessity  have  to  earn  their  own  living.  Others 
will  have  to  do  so  because  their  men  folk  will  return  no  more.     For 

253 


254.  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

tlic'su  and  otlier  reasons  we  are  of  opinion  that  the  number  of  women 
desiring  to  remain  in  industry  after  the  War,  both  actual  and  rela- 
tive, will  very  greatly  exceed  the  number  of  women  engaged  in  in- 
dustrial occupations  before  the  outbreak  of  hostilities. 

(3)  From  these  premises  a  number  of  problems  emerge: — 

(i.)  Into  what  industries  should  the  women  displaced  at  the  con- 
clusion of  peace  be  directed? 

(ii.)  In  what  industries  should  women  be  retained,  and  from 
which  should  they  retire  in  favor  of  male  labor'/ 

(iii.)  What  is  the  best  type  of  industrial  organization  for  women 
workers  ? 

(iv.)  Upon  what  lines  should  we  proceed  in  the  great  task  of 
industrial  reorganization  which  will  follow  the  War? 

(v.)  Upon  what  principle  should  the  remuneration  of  women 
workers  be  based? 

(vi.)  How  far  is  welfare  work  necessary  or  desirable? 

(4)  If  a  solution  is  to  be  found  for  these,  and  kindred  problems, 
a  definite  industrial  policy,  as  to  the  position  of  women  workers 
after  the  War,  is  needed. 

II.    THE    INDUSTRIAL    EMPLOYMENT    OP    WOMEN    AFTER    THE    WAR 

(1)  The  underlying  fact  in  relation  to  the  position  of  woman  in 
industry  is  that  her  position  as  an  industrial  worker  is,  and  always 
must  be,  of  secondary  importance  to  her  position  in  the  home.  To 
provide  the  conditions  which  render  a  strong  and  healthy  family 
life  possible  to  all  is  the  first  interest  of  the  State,  since  the  family 
is  the  foundation  stone  of  the  social  system. 

(2)  It  is,  accordingly,  the  duty  of  the  State  to  ensure  that  women 
are  only  employed  as  factors  in  industrial  efficiency  in  so  far  as 
the  interests  of  family  life  and  the  healthy  development  of  the  race 
are  not  prejudiced. 

(3)  Whilst  the  experience  of  the  War  has  shown  that  women 
can  adapt  themselves  to  the  needs  of  almost  any  calling,  it  is  clear 
that  many  occupations  now  being  followed  by  women  are  unsuitable 
for  the  permanent  employment  of  female  labor. 

We  welcome  the  admirable  series  of  Reports  issued  by  the  Health 
of  Munition  Workers'  Committee  and,  in  our  opinion,  a  thorough 
inquiry  into  the  effect  of  different  occupations  on  the  health  and 
physique  of  women  should  be  undertaken,  at  the  earliest  possible 
date,  as  a  necessary  part  of  the  preparation  which  is  made  for  the 
task  of  Demobilization.  It  is  obvious  that  a  final  decision  as  to  the 
effect  of  many  occupations  on  the  health  of  women  engaged  therein 


APPENDIX  D  255 

can  only  be  arrived  at  after  the  lapse  of  a  considerable  period  of 
time,  but,  in  view  of  the  importance  of  the  issues  involved,  we  feel 
that  sufficient  experience  has  now  been  gained  to  justify  such  an 
inquiry  being  instituted.  Such  an  investigation  would  probably 
result  in  certain  occupations  being  ruled  out,  on  physical  grounds, 
as  unsuitable  for  the  employment  of  women.  After  the  War,  it 
should  be  made  illegal  for  women  to  be  employed  in  such  occupa- 
tions. 

(4)  The  entry  of  women  workers  into,  or  their  continuance  in, 
industries  suitable,  so  far  as  questions  of  health  and  physique  are 
concerned,  for  the  employment  of  women  involves  the  consideration 
of  wider  problems.  Before  setting  out  our  conclusions  as  to  the 
employment  of  women  after  the  War  in  such  industries  it  will  be 
convenient  to  place  on  record  certain  facts : — 

(i.)   It  is  estimated  that  the  total  number  of  women  employed 
in  industrial   and  commercial  occupations,   other  than   do- 
mestic   occupations,    was    4,713,000    in    October,    1917,    as 
compared    with    3,287,000    in    July,    1914 — an    increase    of 
1,42(3,000. 
(ii.)   Of  the   4,713,000   women   engaged   in   industrial   and   com- 
mercial occupations,  1,413,000  were  directly  replacing  men. 
(iii.)   The  number  of  women  employed  solely  on  munitions  work 
was  704,000  out  of  a  total  of  1,400,000  employed  in  the  pro- 
duction and  distribution  of  commodities  for  the  British  and 
Allied  Governments, 
(iv.)   The  following  table  shows  in  detail  the  estimated  distribu- 
tion  among  the  various  industries  of  the   women   engaged 
therein,    in    July,    1914,    and    October,    1917,    respectively, 
namely : — 

Number  employed  in 
Occupation.  July,  1914     Oct.,  1917. 

Controlled    and   Private   Industries 2,176,000     2,706,000 

Government    Establishments    2,000        216,000 

Gas,  Water  and  Electricity  (Local  Authorities)  600  4,600 

Agriculture  (Great  Britain),  Permanent  Labor  180,000  ^89,000 
Transport,    including    Tramway    Services 

(Estimated)      18,200        111,200 

Finance    (Banking,   Insurance,  etc.) 9,500  67,500 

Commerce     496,000        831,000 

Professions    67,500  89,500 

Hotels,  Public  Houses,  Cinemas,  Theaters,  etc.     176,000       200,000 

1  Numbers  vary  according  to  the  season  of  the  year. 


266  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Civil    Service    (Post    Office) 60,500        107,000 

Other  Civil   Services 4,500         51,000 

Other  Services  under  Local  Authorities 196,200        226,200 

(v.)  Tlie  figures  given  in  tlic  above  table  do  not  include  domestic 
workers,  women  employed  in  certain  small  workshops  and 
workrooms,  or  women  working  in  Naval,  Military  or  Red 
Cross  hospitals.  In  pre-war  days  domestic  service  provided 
employment  for  a  i'ar  larger  number  oi"  women  than  any 
other  form  of  occupation.  The  number  so  employed  in  1911 
was  1,620,000.  It  is  estimated  that  since  the  outbreak  of 
war  there  has  been  a  displacement  of  some  400,000  women 
from  domestic  service  and  small  workshops. 

(5)  In  estimating  the  extent  of  the  problems  raised  by  the  em- 
ploj'ment  of  women  after  the  war,  it  may  be  assumed  that  a  propor- 
tion of  the  1,426,000  women  who  have  entered  industry  since  the 
outbreak  of  war  will  return  to  their  homes,  or  will  be  able  to  do  so 
without  suffering  any  great  hardship,  at  the  termination  of  hostili- 
ties. It  is,  however,  impossible  to  form  any  estimate  as  to  what 
proportion  will  be  able  to  do  so. 

Presumably  it  will  be  possible  for  400,000  women  to  return  to 
domestic  service  or  small  workshops,  from  which  they  have  been 
withdrawn,  either  by  the  attraction  of  higher  remuneration  or  the 
needs  of  the  country.  If,  however,  women  are  to  be  persuaded  to 
enter  these  occupations  in  large  numbers,  the  wages,  hours  and  con- 
ditions of  work  will  require  very  considerable  amendment.  In  par- 
ticular, the  conditions  of  domestic  service  will  have  to  be  greatly  im- 
proved, especially  on  the  side  of  allowing  a  much  greater  amount  of 
freedom  to  those  engaged  therein. 

(6)  It  may  be  anticipated  that  the  704,000  women  now  engaged 
on  munitions  w^ork  will  either  have  to  seek  other  emplojTnent  or 
cease  to  be  industrial  workers,  at  any  rate  for  a  time,  after  the 
war  is  terminated;  and,  in  addition  to  this  number,  a  considerable 
percentage  of  the  696,000  who  are  at  present  engaged  on  Govern- 
ment work  other  than  munitions  work  will  no  longer  be  needed. 
On  the  other  hand,  workers  in  such  industries  as  the  manufacture 
of  clothing  and  footwear  will  probably  merely  be  transferred  from 
war  to  civilian  production,  unless  this  transfer  is  delayed  or  pre- 
vented owing  to  shortage  of  raw  materials. 

(7)  Many  women  who  are  replacing  men  in  Government  offices 
and  works  will  have  to  be  willing  to  give  place  to  the  men  as  they 
return  from  their  military  duties,  and  a  definite  policy  of  regarding 
the  right  of  the  men  now  serving  in  the  l^avy  or  Army  to  return  to 
their  former  occupations  should  be  insisted  upon  as  a  simple  act 


APPENDIX  D  257 

of  justice.  This  policy,  in  our  opinion,  should  be  applied  generally 
in  all  cases  where  women  have  replaced  men  for  reasons  attributable 
directly  or  indirectly  to  the  war.  Women  have  helped,  and  are 
helping,  the  Nation  splendidly,  but  they  must  realize  that  men  have 
not  forfeited  their  right  to  their  jobs  by  answering  their  Country's 
call  and  doing  work  which  women  cannot  undertake. 

(8)  Consideration  of  the  foregoing  facts  appears  to  justify  the 
conclusion,  already  stated  in  the  first  Section  of  this  Report,  that 
the  cessation  of  hostilities  will  be  followed  by  a  great  dislocation 
of  female  labor,  involving  the  necessity  of  providing  fresh  occupa- 
tion for  the  greater  part  of  1,426,000  women  and  girls. 

(9)  The  problem  thus  presented  will  be  rendered  more  difficult 
of  solution  by  reason  of  the  shortage  of  wellnigh  every  class  of  raw 
material  (except  steel  and  certain  chemicals),  which  appears  in- 
evitable in  consequence  of  retarded  production,  depletion  of  stocks, 
and  destruction  of  shipping.  Time  will  also  be  required  to  re- 
organize the  workshops  and  factories  for  the  requirements  of  normal 
commercial  production. 

(10)  For  these,  amongst  other  reasons,  it  appears  certain  that 
there  must  be  a  period  after  the  war,  of  how  long  duration  it  is 
impossible  to  say,  during  which  a  reduction  of  the  demand  for  labor 
is  inevitable.  We  have  considered  the  line  of  policy  which  should 
be  followed  in  order  to  endeavor  to  meet  the  situation  which  will 
arise  in  consequence,  and  our  conclusions  are  as  follows: 

(i.)  That  the  first  consideration  should  be  to  arrange  for  the 
suitable  employment  of  all  demobilized  men,  and  men  dis- 
charged from  industrial  establishments  engaged  upon  the 
production  of  munitions  of  war. 

(ii.)   That    women    should,    as    a    matter    of    course,    relinquish 
the  jobs  in  which  they  have  replaced  men  for  reasons  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  attributable  to  the  war,  so  long  as  men 
are  available  to  fill  them, 
(iii.)   That  the  school-leaving  age  should  be  raised  to  15,  in  or- 
der that  juvenile  labor  may  not  compete  with  adult  labor 
during  the  period  of  demobilization  and  the  readjustment 
of  industry  to  peace  conditions. 
We  note  with  satisfaction  that  the  Education  (No.  2)  Bill,  1918, 
now  before  Parliament  proposes  to  confer  upon  Educational 
Authorities  power  to  raise  the  school-leaving  age  to  15,  and 
we  feel  that  this  power  should  be  exercised  in  the  interests 
alike  of  the  Nation  and  of  Industry, 
(iv.)   A  determined  and  sustained  effort  should  be  made  to  at- 
tract as  large   a  number  of  women  as  possible  into  those 


258  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

industries  which,  by  reason  of  their  nature,  are  more  par- 
ticuhirly  suitable  for  the  employment  of  female  labor. 
Such  industries  are  incapable  of  exact  definition,  since  the 
suitability  or  otherwise  of  any  industry  for  the  employment 
of  women  is  constantly  alterinf^  as  new  processes  and  meth- 
ods of  manufacture  are  introduced.  Certain  industries, 
nevertheless,  stand  out  as  those  for  which  women  are  spe- 
cially adapted.  A  complete  list  of  such  industries  is  im- 
possible; but  by  way  of  illustration  we  would  instance  the 
textile  industries,  the  boot  and  shoe  trade,  the  printing  and 
allied  trades,  laundry,  garment  making,  millinery,  confec- 
tioner}', tobacco,  the  paper,  stationery  and  allied  trades, 
sections  of  the  pottery  industry,  work  in  retail  shops,  clerical 
occupations,  and  domestic  service. 

Many  of  our  schools  are  understaffed,  and  the  teaching  profes- 
sion, consequently,  can  absorb  a  great  many  women;  and 
if  the  school-leaving  age  is  raised  to  15,  as  we  think  it 
should  be,  many  thousands  of  extra  teachers  will  be  required 
immediately. 

It  has,  moreover,  become  clear  that  the  land,  especially  the  less 
heavy  and  more  skilled  processes  of  dairy  work,  gardening, 
fruit  growing,  etc.,  offers  an  expanding  sphere  of  employ- 
ment for  women  workers.  The  wage  rates  and  conditions 
of  work  in  these  and  other  occupations  suitable  for  the 
regular  employment  of  women  should  receive  the  immediate 
consideration  of  those  who,  by  reason  of  the  general  dis- 
placement of  labor  at  the  end  of  the  war,  w'ill  then  be  avail- 
able to  return  to  or  enter  into  them, 
(v.)  The  extent  to  which  married  women  are  engaged  in  in- 
dustrial employment  should  be  reduced  to  the  narrowest  pos- 
sible limits.  Women  with  dependents  (children  or  inca- 
pacitated husbands)  should  receive  adequate  pensions,  so 
as  to  avoid  the  necessity  of  their  being  forced  to  enter  in- 
dustrial occupations  in  order  to  live. 

(vi.)  The  hours  of  labor  for  women  engaged  in  industrial  occupa- 
tions, permitted  under  the  Factory  Act,  1901,  should  be  dras- 
tically reduced.  Under  the  law  as  it  now  stands,  women 
may  be  employed  (except  on  Saturday  or  its  equivalent) 
for  a  working  day  of  12  hours,  subject  to  one-and-a-half 
hours  for  meals  (or  two  hours  in  textile  and  certain  other 
factories),  and  for  unbroken  spells  of  five  hours'  duration, 
save  in  textile  factories,  in  which  case  the  unbroken  spell 
must  not  exceed  four-and-a-half  hours. 


APPENDIX  D  259 

These  hours,  in  our  opinion,  are  much  too  long,  both  in  the  ag- 
gregate and  in  the  length  of  the  spell  which  may  be  worked 
without  a  break. 
We  are  of  opinion  that  the  policy  of  an  eight-hour  day  on  five 
days  a  week,  and  four  hours  on  Saturday  or  its  equivalent, 
making  a  total  working  week  of  44  hours,  should  be  adopted. 
We  believe  that  these  hours  of  labor  would  in  no  way  re- 
duce  the  productive  capacity  of  factories   if  properly   or- 
ganized.    Indeed,   the  evidence   afforded   by  the   Health   of 
Munition  Workers'  Committee  tends  to  show  that  the  pro- 
ductive capacity  of  the  workers  would  rather  be  increased. 
In  our  opinion  four  hours  is  the  maximum  length  of  time 
which  should  be  worked  by  a  woman  without  a  break,  and 
we   think   that   the   best   results   would   be   obtained   if  un- 
broken spells  of  work  did  not  extend  beyond  three  hours. 
Our  experience  leads  us  to  believe  that  most  women  cannot 
work  properly  without  a  break  for  a  longer  period. 
While  we  do  not  feel  able  to  express  a  final  opinion  upon  the 
suggestions  recently  made  for  the  reorganization  of  factory 
practice  on  the  basis  of  two  shifts  of  six  hours  each,  we  think 
such   suggestions  are   worthy  of  serious   consideration. 
(11)   We  have,  in  the  preceding  paragraphs,  outlined  the  policy 
which  we  think  should  be  followed  at  the  end  of  the  war.     There  is, 
however,  in  our  judgment  one  essential  condition  to  any  hope  of  a 
satisfactory  solution  of  the  many  problems  involved,  namely,  that 
the  organization  of  women  workers  in  properly  constituted  Trade 
Unions   must    be    proceeded   with    as   rapidly    as   possible.     Many 
women,  however,  will  inevitably  have  to  face  a  period,  and  prob- 
ably a  long  period,  of  unemployment.     The  provision  made  under 
the  National  Insurance  Acts,  1911-17,  will  help  to  tide  them  over 
this  period  of  enforced  inactivity,  but  we  feel  that  the  amount  of 
benefit,    7/-per    week,    paid    under  the    Unemployment    Insurance 
Scheme  contained  in  these  Statutes,  is  quite  inadequate,  and  steps 
should,  we  think,  be  taken  to  supplement  the  statutory  benefit  by 
voluntary  insurance,  under  schemes  promoted  and  administered  by 
the  Trade  Unions  concerned. 

III.   THE    ORGANIZATION    OP    WOMEN    WORKERS 

(1)  Upon  the  question  of  the  industrial  organization  of  women 
two  divergent  views  were  expressed : — 

(i.)  That  the  peculiar  needs  of  women  can  be  best  met  by  the 
organization    of    women    workers    into    separate    Women's 

Unions. 


260  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

(ii.)  That  the  only  satisfactory  mode  of  organization  for  wuincri 
is  to  incorporate  them,  on  equal  terms  with  the  men,  into 
Unions,  based  on  the  several  industries. 

(2)  In  supi)ort  of  the  tirst  view,  it  was  urged  that,  while  men 
have  had  long  experience  of  industrial  organization,  women  are 
only  just  beginning,  and  at  present  lack  any  developed  social  con- 
sciousness, and  are  much  behind  men  in  education,  experience  and 
breadth  of  outlook.  Accordingly,  a  large  part  of  the  work  which 
must  be  undertaken  by  women's  organizations  is  educational,  and 
the  necessary  educative  work  can  best  be  carried  out  in  organiza- 
tions specially  constituted  and  administered  for  women. 

(3)  In  support  of  the  second  view,  it  was  urged  that  the  su- 
periority of  men  in  the  matter  of  education  and  intelligence  was 
to  a  great  extent  imaginary,  and  that  the  same  might  be  said  as 
to  the  extent  to  which  any  considerable  social  consciousness  had  been 
attained  in  men's  organizations.  At  any  rate,  the  difference  be- 
tween men  and  women  in  these  respects  was  not  sufficiently  great 
to  prevent  the  effective  association  of  men  and  women  in  the  same 
Union  organization.  The  branch  life  of  the  men's  Union  is  a  great 
educational  force,  and  the  best  results  would  be  attained  by  intro- 
ducing women  on  equal  terms  with  men  into  the  same  organizations. 

(4)  We  have  given  careful  consideration  to  the  issues  thus  raised, 
and  the  majority  of  those  attending  the  Conference  are  of  opinion 
that  the  interests  of  women  will  be  best  served  if  the  operatives  in 
the  several  industries  are  organized  in  Unions  constituted  on  the 
basis  of  the  industry  in  which  their  members  are  employed,  irre- 
spective of  sex,  and  that  women  should  be  accorded  an  equal  status 
with  men  in  the  branch  life  and  organization  of  the  Unions. 

(5)  As  a  result  of  the  discussion  which  has  taken  place,  we  feel 
that  there  is  urgent  need  for  drastic  simplification  of  Trade  Union 
organization.  The  number  of  Unions  at  present  existing — over 
1,100 — together  with  the  complexity  which  inevitably  results  from 
so  large  a  number  of  organizations,  many  of  which  overlap  and  com- 
pete with  one  another,  creates  great  and  needless  administrative 
difficulties,  and  constitutes  a  serious  handicap  to  the  solidarity  of 
Labor.  We  understand,  for  instance,  that  there  are  187  operatives' 
Unions  in  the  Engineering  and  allied  trades. 

(6)  We  think  that  many  considerations  make  it  desirable  that 
there  should  be  a  reorganization  of  the  Unions,  with  the  object  (a) 
of  reducing  their  numbers,  and  (b)  of  reorganizing  the  workers  on 
the  basis  of  the  industry  in  which  they  are  employed. 

(7)  The  Employers'  Associations  are  in  much  the  same  position 
as  the  Trade  Unions.     They  are  for  the  most  part  very  incom- 


APPENDIX  D  261 

plete,  and  often  ineffective,  and  require  coordination  and  extension. 

(8)  We  are  of  opinion  that  the  first  essential  step  towards  a 
policy  of  Industrial  Reconstruction  is  to  organize  all  operatives  in 
their  respective  Trade  Unions,  and  all  employers  in  appropriate 
Trade  Associations. 

(9)  A  Trade  Union,  whether  of  employers  or  operatives,  does 
not  exist  solely  to  further  the  purely  economic  interests  of  its  mem- 
bers, important  as  these  undoubtedly  are.  A  Trade  Union  fulfils, 
or  is  capable  of  fulfilling  and  should  fulfil,  wider  functions.  If  it  is 
to  play  its  proper  place  in  the  organized  life  of  the  Nation,  a  Trade 
Union  must  aim  at  associating  its  members  for  the  better  discharge 
of  their  duties  to  the  community  at  large,  as  well  as  for  the  pursuit 
of  their  individual  or  sectional  interests  and  rights.  A  Trade  Union 
should  fulfil  important  social  and  educational  functions  as  well  as 
economic.  It  should  aim  at  affording  to  its  members  an  opportunity 
to  gain  a  deeper  social  consciousness  and  to  enter  upon  a  life  of 
richer  and  fuller  experience.  It  is  of  the  greatest  importance,  there- 
fore, that  care  should  be  taken  to  see  that  the  ideal  side  of  Trade 
Unionism  is  kept  well  to  the  fore  in  Union  propaganda.  We  feel 
that  the  best  interests  of  Unionism  will  not  be  served  by  enrolling 
large  numbers  of  new  members  who  have  not  grasped  the  under- 
lying ideals  of  the  movement,  and  join  a  Union  solely  on  a  "bread 
and  butter"  basis.  Such  a  policy  is  bound  to  render  Trade  Union 
organization  fatally  unstable  and  immensely  difficult  to  maintain. 
Those  charged  with  the  duty  of  organizing  women  should,  therefore, 
leave  no  stone  unturned  to  bring  home  to  the  women  concerned  the 
high  ideals  for  which  modem  Unionism  should  stand,  and  to  impress 
upon  them  the  essential  importance  of  personal  loyalty  to  their 
fellow-members,  to  the  industry  of  which  they  form  part,  and  to  the 
community  of  which  they  are  citizens. 

10.  Great  as  have  been  the  services  rendered  by  the  Trade  Unions 
to  the  Nation  in  the  past,  and  during  the  war,  we  feel  that  in  the 
future  they  are  destined  to  render  yet  greater  service.  The  battle 
for  recognition  is  well-nigh  won.  By  adopting  the  first  Whitley 
Report  the  present  Government,  on  behalf  of  the  Nation,  has  defi- 
nitely recognized  Trade  Unions  as  essential  factors  in  the  industrial 
organization  of  the  national  life  and  the  starting-point  of  Industrial 
Reconstruction.  This  action  on  the  part  of  the  Government  fur- 
nishes an  additional  reason  for  a  great  and  rapid  extension  and 
simplification  of  Trade  Union  organization  for  both  employers  and 
operatives. 


262  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 


IV.      THE   WHITLEY   REPORTS 

(1)  We  have  ^ven  careful  consideration  to  the  three  Whitley  Re- 
ports, and  the  policy  outlined  therein  of  constituting  a  new  control 
in  industry  by  establishing,  in  each  industry,  a  system  of  industrial 
sclf-goveniment  through  the  medium  of  Joint  Standing  Industrial 
Councils,  equally  representative  of  the  organized  employers  and 
operatives  engaged  in  the  industry.  We  are  of  opinion  that  the 
proposals  contained  in  the  Reports  afford  a  practical  basis  for  the 
reorganization  of  industry,  and  indicate  a  sound  line  of  advance 
towards  Industrial  Reconstruction. 

(2)  We  welcome  the  proposals  of  the  second  Whitley  Report, 
which  aim  at  bringing  all  unorganized  industries  under  the  control  of 
Trade  Boards,  having  powers  extended  to  questions  affecting  both 
wages  and  hours  of  labor,  and  questions  cognate  to  wages  and  hours. 
For  reasons  which  are  set  forth  in  the  section  of  the  present  Report 
dealing  with  the  remuneration  of  women  workers,  we  are  of  opinion 
that  there  is  urgent  need  for  a  very  wide  extension  of  Trade  Boards. 

(3)  We  notice  with  interest  and  endorse  the  stress  laid  in  the 
Reports  upon  the  importance  of  Works  Committees.  In  our  opin- 
ion the  principle  of  Works  Committees  is  sound  and  the  formation 
of  such  Committees  should  be  encouraged,  quite  apart  from  their 
operation  as  a  part  of  the  Whitley  Scheme  of  industrial  self-govern- 
ment. Such  committees  are,  in  our  judgment,  of  the  greatest  pos- 
sible service  for  the  satisfactory  conduct  of  industry,  and  afford  one 
of  the  best  practical  methods  of  securing  better  relations  between 
management  and  the  operatives. 

v.      THE  REMUNERATION    OP   WOMEN   WORKERS 

(1)  It  is  generally  admitted  that  a  considerable  number  of  women 
engaged  in  industry  before  the  war  were  not  paid  a  living  wage. 
There  were  several  causes  which  seem  to  us  to  have  contributed  to 
bring  this  about. 

(i.)  Until  recently  comparatively  few  women  were  organized,  and, 
consequently,  they  were  obliged  to  accept  whatever  wages 
were  offered  them, 
(ii.)  Women  were  mainly  employed  in  the  less  skilled  or  un- 
skilled trades,  the  work  required  of  them  being  of  a  repe- 
tition character  which  was  easily  and  quickly  picked  up. 
The  supply  of  labor  suitable  for  work  of  this  character 
tended,   in   many  localities,   to   exceed   the   demand,   conse- 


APPENDIX  D  263 

quently  a  low  rate  of  wage  sufficed  to  command  the  services 
of  a  sufficient  number  of  women, 
(iii.)  Many  girls  entered  industry  with  no  intention  of  remaining 
for  any  great  length  of  time;   it  was  merely  necessary  to 
bridge   the   gap    between   school   days   and   marriage.     The 
amount  of  wages  received  was  in  many  eases  not  a  matter 
of  serious  concern.     They  were  content  with  the  equivalent 
of  pocket  money.     It  was  impossible  for  the  employers  to 
distinguish  or  differentiate  between  women  who  entered  in- 
dustry for  the  purpose  of  earning  their  own   living,   and, 
possibly,  supporting  not  only  themselves  but  dependents  as 
well,  and  the  "pocket-money"  entrants,  and  the  presence  of 
the  latter  inevitably  operated  to  depress  wages, 
(iv.)   Although   many   women   have    dependents   to    support,   the 
majority  have  not.     They  are,  consequently,  able  to  main- 
tain a  fairly  satisfactory  standard  of  life  on  a  lower  wage 
than  a  man  usually  requires  to  maintain  a  similar  standard, 
(v.)   There  would  appear  to  be  in  the  minds  of  some  employers 
an  element  of  prejudice  against  the  employment  of  women, 
because  they  are  less  physically  fit  than  men  for  some  occu- 
pations.    In  accordance  with  this  view,  the  work  of  women 
is  regarded  as  of  less  worth  than  that  of  men,  and  should 
be  rewarded  therefore  at  a  rate  of  remuneration  substan- 
tially lower  than  that  which  men  can  rightly  claim, 
(vi.)   It  has  been  very  generally  assumed  that  a  woman  can  live 
on  a  smaller  income  than  a  man.     We  believe  that  this  as- 
sumption is  erroneous, 
(vii.)   Trade   Boards,   on    being   constituted,    have   tended    to   fix 
minimum  rates  for  women  workers  with  regard  to  the  wages 
actually  received  by  the  lower-paid  workers,  in  the  indus- 
tries  concerned,   before  the  Boards   were   established.     The 
rates  fixed,  consequently,  were  low. 
(2)   For  the  reasons  already  given  in  the  earlier  sections  of  this 
Report,  the  war  lias  materially  affected  the  economic   position  of 
women.     Many   of  the  causes  which   formerly  tended  to   maintain 
the  wages  paid  to  women  operatives  at  a  low  figure  will  no  longer 
operate  in  the  post-war  period.     Moreover,   during  the   war  large 
numbers  of  women  have  grown  accustomed  to  earn  comparatively 
high  wages,  and  the  rates  of  wages  paid  to  women  generally  liave 
risen  considerably  in  consequence  of  the  standards  established   by 
the  Orders  made  by  the  Ministry  of  Munitions,  under  Section  6  of 
the  Munitions  of  War  Act,  1916,  fixing  the  rate  of  remuneration  for 


264.  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

wonicn  employed  on  various  kinds  of  munitions  work.  For  these 
rt'iisons,  it  is  certain  tiiat  women  will  in  the  future  demand,  and  are 
justly  entitled  to  receive,  a  much  higher  rate  of  remuneration  for 
their  services  than  in  pre-war  days.  Women  are  now  presented 
with  a  unique  opportunity  to  raise  permanently  the  standard  of 
women's  remuneration  in  industrial  occupations.  The  .standards 
established  by  the  Government  during  the  war  will  afford  very  im- 
portant precedents,  and  steps  should  be  taken  without  delay  to  pre- 
vent the  rates  obtained  during  the  past  three  years  being  lowered. 
The  first  essential  step  to  this  end  is  thorough  and  efficient  organiza- 
tion. The  second  is  to  formulate  some  definite  principle  on  which 
to   proceed  in   future  negotiations  on   wage   questions. 

(3)  With  the  neeessit}'  and  form  of  organization  we  have  already 
dealt  in  the  second  section  of  this  Report.  It  remains  to  consider 
what  basis  should  be  adopted  when  fixing  the  rate  of  remuneration 
to  be  paid  to  women  workers. 

Now  that  women  are  rapidly  becoming  organized,  either  in  Trade- 
Unions  of  their  own  or  in  men's  Unions,  standard  rates  will  grad- 
ually become  established  in  the  organized  industries  by  collective 
bargaining,  either  on  the  lines  hitherto  practised,  or  upon  the  Joint 
Industrial  Councils,  National  and  District,  proposed  by  the  Whitley 
Committee.  In  unorganized  industries  the  same  result  will  be  ob- 
tained by  the  decisions  of  Trade  Boards.  The  fact,  however,  that 
machinery  exists  for  fixing  standard  or  minimum  rates  of  wages 
does  not  in  any  way  dispense  with  the  necessity  of  arriving  at  some 
intelligible  principle  as  the  basis  upon  which  such  rates  should  be 
fixed. 

(4)  A  demand  is  at  present  made  in  many  quarters,  on  behalf  of 
women  workers,  for  equal  pay  for  equal  work  for  men  and  women 
alike.  This  principle  is,  however,  much  easier  to  assert  than  to 
apply.  It  is  not  always  easy  to  say  when  equal  work  is  performed. 
It  is,  moreover,  by  no  means  clear  that,  if  applied,  the  principle  will 
always  operate  to  the  pecuniary  advantage  of  the  woman.  Many 
employers,  if  faced  with  the  necessity  of  paying  equal  rates  to  men 
and  women,  would  prefer  to  employ  men.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
women  can  be  employed  on  the  same  work  as  men  at  lower  wages 
than  those  demanded  by  men,  the  men's  standard  of  life  is  endan- 
gered. This  last  point  is  of  such  great  importance  that,  notwith- 
standing the  difficulties  involved,  we  think  that  the  principle  of  equal 
pay  for  equal  work,  in  the  sense  that  a  woman  should  receive  the 
same  rate  of  pay  as  a  man  for  the  same  volume  and  quality  of 
work,  assuming  equal  adaptability  to  other  necessary  work,  should 


APPENDIX  D  265 

be  adopted  as  the  basis  of  women's  remuneration  in  all  cases  where 
women  are  employed  on  work  which  has  been  hitherto  regarded  as 
men's  work. 

(5)  In  other  occupations  followed  by  women  we  favor  the  follow- 
ing principle,  namelj^,  that  in  determining  the  rate  of  wage  -which 
should  be  paid,  a  distinction  should  be  drawn  between  a  minimum 
or  "basic"  wage  and  additional  wages  above  the  minimum,  which 
may  conveniently  be  termed  "secondary"  wages.  The  former  should 
be  determined  primarily  by  human  needs;  the  latter  by  the  value  of 
the  service  rendered,  as  compared  with  the  value  of  the  services 
rendered  by  workers  who  are  receiving  the  basic  or  minimum  wage. 

(6)  The  "basic"  wage  for  a  woman  of  average  industry  and  ca- 
pacity should  be  the  sum  necessary  to  maintain  her  in  a  decent 
dwelling  and  in  a  state  of  full  physical  efficiency,  and  to  allow  a 
reasonable  margin  for  recreation  and  contingencies. 

(7)  The  "secondary"  wage  should  be  determined  by  the  cash  value 
to  be  placed  upon  any  special  gift  or  qualification  required  for  the 
performance  of  the  work  undertaken. 

(8)  The  cash  equivalent  of  the  "basic"  and  "secondary"  wages 
in  any  industry  or  particular  instance  must  be  determined,  in  the 
organized  industries,  by  agreement,  either  between  the  Unions  and 
the  Employers'  Association  or  the  individual  employers,  as  the  case 
may  be,  by  the  ordinary  processes  of  collective  bargaining  as  at 
present  practised,  or  upon  the  Joint  Industrial  Councils  which  we 
hope  will  be  established  in  the  near  future,  and  in  unorganized  in- 
dustries, by  Trade  Boards  established  under  statutory  powers. 
Some  organization  for  the  purpose  is  imperatively  needed  in  every 
industry  if  much  confusion,  bitterness  and  strife  is  to  be  avoided. 
We  should  prefer  to  see  the  work  of  fixing  rates  undertaken  by  the 
self-governing  industrial  bodies  proposed  in  the  first  Report  of  the 
Whitley  Committee,  but,  failing  these,  we  feel  that  it  is  necessarj' 
that  immediate  steps  should  be  taken  to  extend  the  Trade  Boards 
Act  to  all  industries,  and  to  enlarge  the  powers  of  the  Boards  on  the 
lines  suggested  in  the  second  of  the  Reports  of  the  Whitley  Commit- 
tee. We  note  with  satisfaction  that  legislation  to  this  end  is  con- 
templated in  the  near  future.  There  is  no  reason,  in  the  nature  of 
things,  why  a  Trade  Board  should  fix  minimum  rates  with  reference 
to  the  rates  paid  in  the  poorly-paid  shops.  In  the  future  we  do 
not  believe  that  they  will  be  so  fixed.  Minimum  rates  should,  we 
think,  be  determined  with  reference  to  the  wages  paid  by  "good 
employers,"  the  standard  adopted  in  the  Fair  Wages  Clauses  ap- 
proved by  resolution  of  the  House  of  Commons. 


266  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

(0)  We  favor  some  such  plan  as  above  set  forth  to  any  attempt 
to  define  a  "living  wage"  in  terms  of  money.  This  cannot  be  done 
satisfactorily,  since  values  are  constantly  changing.  It  seems  to  us 
better  to  lay  down  the  main  factors  which  should  ha  considered  in 
determining  what  is  a  "living  wage,"  and  embody  these  factors  in 
a  formula  such  as  that  set  out  above.  The  formula  can  then  be 
"priced  out,"  so  to  speak,  and  adjusted  from  time  to  time  as  occa- 
sion demands. 

(10)  The  proposals  outlined  above  do  not  fully  meet  the  case  of 
women  with  dependents.  We  are  unable  to  come  to  any  satisfactory 
conclusion  as  to  how  this  very  serious  question  siiould  be  dealt  with. 
The  basic  wage  for  women  will  inevitably  be  tixed  witii  reference  to 
the  needs  of  a  single  and  unencumbered  woman  of  average  capacity. 
No  other  course,  indeed,  appears  to  be  possible.  If  she  has  depend- 
ents, they  must  be  otherwise  provided  for.  It  seems  to  us  that  such 
provision  is  an  obligation  which  should  rest  upon  the  community  as 
a  whole,  and  must  be  made  irrespective  of  industrial  relationships. 
We  are  entirely  opposed  to  the  recent  tendency  in  industrial  legis- 
lation to  complicate  industrial  questions  by  throwing  upon  industry' 
non-industrial  functions. 

VI,   WELFARE   WORK 

(1)  While  we  recognize  that  the  development  of  Welfare  Work 
in  recent  years  is  part  of  the  general  movement  which  aims  at 
humanizing  industrial  life,  we  nevertheless  feel  that  the  lines  upon 
which  this  work  is  developing  are  very  far  from  satisfactory. 

(2)  In  the  first  place,  we  think  that  the  phrases  "Welfare  Work," 
"Welfare  Supervisor,"  etc.,  are  unfortunate,  and  lead  to  grave  mis- 
apprehension as  to  the  objects  sought  to  be  attained  by  the  work 
with  which  these  terms  are  associated.  They  are  held  to  imply  the 
idea  of  patronage.  We  think  that  it  is  very  desirable  that  a  new 
designation  should  be  applied  to  this  branch  of  industrial  organiza- 
tion. Again,  largely  in  consequence  of  the  greatly  increased  need 
for  work  of  this  description  entailed  by  the  war,  a  large  number  of 
women  appointed  as  Welfare  Supervisors  have  been  quite  unsuited 
for  the  work.  They  have  lacked  experience  and  understanding  of 
industrial  conditions,  and  have  often  been  tactless  in  exercising  the 
very  delicate  tasks  entrusted  to  them.  For  these  reasons  the  whole 
idea  of  welfare  work  is  misunderstood,  and  has  come  to  be  regarded 
with  suspicion,  by  large  numbers  of  operatives.  There  is  grave 
danger  of  the  whole  movement  falling  into  serious  disrepute  in 
consequence.     This,  we  think,  would  be  a  great  misfortune,  inas- 


APPENDIX  D  267 

much  as,  when  its  proper  function  is  understood,  we  believe  that 
there  is  a  great  field  of  usefulness  open  to  welfare  work,  conducted 
by  suitable  and  properly  trained  persons. 

The  appointment  of  Welfare  Supervisors  marks  a  new  idea  in 
Factory  organization.  It  denotes  a  new  sense  of  responsibility  on 
the  part  of  those  who  employ  the  labor  of  others  for  the  well-being 
of  those  whom  they  employ.  The  function,  accordingly,  of  a  Wel- 
fare Supervisor  is  to  see  that  proper  attention  is  paid  to  the  "hu- 
man," as  contrasted  with  the  productive,  aspects  of  factory  life  and 
work. 

(3)  Girls  fresh  from  the  discipline  of  a  well-ordered  school  need 
help  and  friendly  supervision  in  the  unfamiliar  turmoil  of  their  new 
surroundings.  They  are  not  women,  and  cannot  be  treated  as  such. 
High  wages,  and  in  many  cases  the  absence  of  the  father,  tend  to 
relax  home  control.  Healthy  and  organized  recreation  is  frequently 
difficult  or  impossible  to  obtain.  If  smooth  working  is  to  be  secured, 
the  real  causes  of  discontent  and  trouble  must  be  ascertained  and 
appreciated.  The  problems  involved  are  a  special  branch  of  factory 
administration,  and  they  are  likely  to  remain  unsolved  unless  suitable 
women  are  specially  trained  and  deputed  for  the  purpose.  They  in- 
clude questions  of  character  and  behavior;  the  maintenance  of  suit- 
able and  convenient  sanitary  accommodation;  the  maintenance  of 
health  under  the  strain  and  stress  of  industrial  work,  which  re- 
quires constant  oversight  of  hours,  rest  periods,  overtime  and  night 
work. 

(4)  For  these  reasons  we  are  of  opinion  that,  under  present  con- 
ditions, Welfare  Supervisors  are  desirable  wherever  girls  under  18 
years  of  age  are  employed. 

(5)  We  are  also  of  opinion  that  Welfare  Supervisors  wiU  in  many 
cases  be  found  desirable  in  works  where  adult  women  are  employed. 
As  businesses  are  at  present  organized  a  woman  is  rarely,  if  ever, 
found  among  the  active  body  of  Directors,  and  many  questions  con- 
stantly arise  in  the  daily  routine  of  factor)'  management,  where 
women  are  employed,  which  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  and  ofttimes 
impossible  for  a  man  to  deal  with  satisfactorily,  and  consequently 
the  presence  of  a  well-trained  and  sympathetic  woman,  entrusted 
with  the  duties  specified  above,  is  of  the  greatest  possible  assistance, 
both  to  the  women  employed  and  to  the  management. 

(6)  Generally,  in  our  opinion,  a  Welfare  Super\dsor  should  be  re- 
sponsible to  the  principals  only,  and  the  greatest  possible  care  should 
be  taken  to  appoint  only  suitable  and  specially  trained  persons  for 
undertaking  these  dehcate  and  responsible  duties.  The  officer  ap- 
pointed should  be  a  woman  of  good  standing  and  education,  sympa- 


268  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

thetic,  tactful  and  sensible  in  dealing  with  others,  and  having,  if  not 
actual  experience,  at  least  a  good  understanding  of  industrial  con- 
ditions. 

(7)  A  Welfare  Supervisor  should  not,  in  our  judgment,  generally 
undertake  home  visiting,  except  at  the  request  of  the  person  to  be 
visited,  or  his  or  her  parents  or  guardians  in  the  case  of  young 
people. 


APPENDIX  E 

LABOR'S  PRONOUNCEMENT  ON  THE  RESTORATION  OF 
TRADE  UNION  CUSTOMS  AFTER  THE  WAR. 

The  Government  has  guaranteed  the  restoration  of  Trade  Union 
rights  after  the  war,  and  this  guarantee  has  been  the  material  factor 
in  inducing  Trade  Unions  to  suspend  their  rules  for  the  period  of 
the  war.  It  is,  therefore,  of  the  greatest  importance  that  the  Trade 
Unions  should  have  the  fullest  possible  knowledge  of  the  scope  and 
substance  of  the  Government  guarantees.  In  the  following  memo- 
randum the  attempt  is  made  to  set  out  all  the  definite  guarantees  that 
have  been  given,  together  with  some  of  the  most  important  pro- 
nouncements of  leading  Ministers  with  regard  to  them. 

Though  the  guarantees  are  most  clearly  set  out  in  the  Second 
Schedule  to  the  Munitions  of  "War  Act,  1915,  it  has  been  thought 
well  to  begin  with  a  short  historical  introduction,  showing  how  the 
need  for  the  guarantees  first  arose  and  received  recognition. 

I. — BEFORE  THE  MUNITIONS   ACT 

The  shortage  of  labor  began  to  be  felt  in  the  engineering  industry 
as  early  as  November,  1914.  By  that  time,  unemployment  among 
skilled  engineers  had  practically  disappeared,  and  the  enlistment  of 
skilled  men  had  aggravated  a  shortage  which  in  any  case  would  have 
become  serious.  On  November  26th  a  Composite  Conference  was 
held  between  the  A.S.E.,  the  Toolmakers,  and  the  Engineering  Em- 
ployers' Federation  to  discuss  the  introduction  of  female  labor  on 
certain  machines  at  Messrs.  Viekers,  Crayford.  An  agreement  was 
finally  secured  by  which  women  in  this  firm  were  allowed  on  purely 
automatic  machines  only,  the  settlement  to  be — 

"observed  until  the  termination  of  the  war,  when  the  whole  ques- 
tion shall  be  discussed,  if  desired,  without  the  foregoing  settlement 
being  urged  to  the  prejudice  of  either  party." 

This  purely  local  settlement  was  no  sooner  secured  than  the  En- 
gineering Employers'  Federation  approached  the  Trade  Unions  and 
asked  them  to  refrain  from  pressing  to  an  issue  during  the  war  any 
question  of  the  manning  of  machines  or  hand  operations,  demarca- 
tion, employment  of  non-unionists  or  women,  and  working  of  un- 

269 


270  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

limited  overtime.     The  only  guarantee  suggested  by  the  employers 
was  in  the  following  terms : — 

"The  following  arrangements  shall  have  effect  during  the  war,  and 
shall  in  no  way  prejudice  any  of  the  parties  on  any  of  the  points 
covered,  and  the  parties  shall  at  the  termination  of  the  war,  as  the 
Federation  and  the  Unions  now  undertake,  revert  to  the  conditions 
which  existed  in  the  respective  shops  on  the  outbreak  of  hostilities." 

These  proposals  were  rejected  by  the  Trade  Unions,  and  it  was 
after  their  rejection  that  the  Government  first  formally  intervened. 
Already,  on  January  2nd,  the  War  OflSce  and  the  Admiralty  had 
written  to  the  Trade  Unions  asking  them  to  accelerate  production, 
and  the  Board  of  Trade  had  urged  the  importance  of  a  settlement. 
On  February  4th  the  Government  appointed  the  Committee  on  Pro- 
duction, which,  during  the  following  months,  issued  a  series  of  re- 
ports on  which  subsequent  Government  action  was  largely  based. 
In  addition,  on  February  8th,  Mr.  Tennant  made  in  the  House  of 
Commons  his  much  criticized  speech  calling  for  the  relaxation  of 
Trade  Union  rules. 

The  most  important  Memoranda  of  the  Committee  on  Production 
were  issued  on  February  20th.  They  dealt  respectively  with  the 
Production  of  Shells  and  Fuses,  with  the  Avoidance  of  Disputes, 
and  with  the  following  suggested  form  of  guarantee  to  workpeople : — 

"In  order  to  safeguard  the  position  of  the  Trade  Unions  and  of 
the  workpeople  concerned  we  think  that  each  contracting  firm  should 
give  an  undertaking,  to  be  held  on  behalf  of  the  Unions,  in  the  follow- 
ing terms : — 
"To  His  Majesty's  Government: 

"We  hereby  undertake  that  any  departure  during  the  war  from  the 
practice  ruling  in  our  workshops  and  shipyards  prior  to  the  war 
shall  only  be  for  the  period  of  the  war. 

"No  chan.iie  in  practice  made  during  the  war  shall  be  allowed  to 
prejudice  the  position  of  the  workpeople  in  our  emplo>Tnent  or  of 
their  Trade  Unions  in  regard  to  the  resumption  and  maintenance 
after  the  war  of  any  rules  or  customs  existing  prior  to  the  war. 

"In  any  readjustment  of  staff  which  may  have  to  be  effected  after 
the  war,  priority  of  employment  will  be  given  to  workmen  in  our  em- 
ployment at  the  beginning  of  the  war  who  are  serving  with  the  colors 
or  who  are  now  in  our  employment. 

"Name  of  firm 

"Date " 


APPENDIX  E  271 

This  suggested  guarantee  forms  the  basis  of  the  safeguarding 
clauses  of  the  Treasury  Agreement. 

The  first  fruits  of  the  activity  of  the  Committee  on  Production  was 
the  Shells  and  Fuses  Agreement,  concluded  on  March  5th  at  a  Con- 
ference between  the  Engineering  Employers'  Federation  and  the 
Trade  Unions  concerned.  Only  the  clauses  in  this  agreement  which 
deal  with  restoration  after  the  war  are  here  quoted : — 

"(6)  Operations  on  which  skilled  men  are  at  present  employed, 
but  which,  by  reason  of  their  character  can  be  performed  by  semi- 
skilled or  female  labor,  may  be  done  by  such  labor  during  the  war 
period. 

"Where  semi-skilled  or  female  labor  is  employed  in  place  of  skilled 
labor  the  rates  paid  shall  be  the  usual  rates  of  the  district  obtaining 
for  the  oiDerations  performed. 

"(7)  The  Federation  undertakes  that  the  fact  of  the  restrictions 
being  temporarily  removed  shall  not  be  used  to  the  ultimate  prejudice 
of  the  workpeople  or  their  Trade  Unions. 

"(8)  Any  federated  employer  shall  at  the  conclusion  of  the  war, 
unless  the  Government  notify  that  the  emergency  continues,  reinstate 
the  working  conditions  of  his  factory  on  the  pre-war  basis,  and  as  far 
as  possible  afford  reemployment  to  his  men  who  are  at  present  serv- 
ing with  His  Majesty's  Forces. 

"(9)  These  proposals  shall  not  warrant  any  employer  making  such 
arrangements  in  the  shops  as  will  effect  a  permanent  restriction  of 
employment  of  any  trade  in  favor  of  semi-skilled  men  or  female 
labor. 

"(10)  The  employers  agree  that  they  will  not,  after  this  war,  take 
advantage  of  this  agreement  to  decrease  wages,  premium  bonus  times, 
or  piecework  prices  (unless  warranted  by  alteration  in  the  means 
or  method  of  manufacture)  or  break  down  established  conditions, 
and  will  adopt  such  proposals  only  for  the  object  of  increasing  out- 
put in  the  present  extraordinary  circumstances. 

"(13)  In  the  event  of  semi-skilled  or  female  labor  being  employed 
as  per  the  foregoing  clauses  they  shall  first  be  affected  by  any  neces- 
sary discharges  either  before  or  after  the  war  period. 

"(14)  The  liberty  of  any  employer  to  take  advantage  of  these 
proposals  shall  be  subject  to  acquiescence  in  all  the  provisions  thereof 
and  to  intimation  of  his  acquiescence  to  the  local  representatives  of 
the  Unions  through  his  local  association." 

The  last  of  the  series  of  special  Memoranda  by  the  Committee  on 
Production  was  published  on  March  4th.    Acting  upon  these  Memo- 


272  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

randa,  (ho  Government  summoned  tlie  first  Treasury  Conference  for 
Marcli  17tli.  The  Conference,  which  was  addressed  by  Mr.  Lloyd 
George,  appointed  a  special  sub-committee,  which  afterwards  became 
the  National  Labor  Advisory  Committee.  This  Committee  drew  up 
proposals,  largely  based  on  the  reports  of  the  Committee  on  Produc- 
tion, and  these  reports,  after  amendment,  were  endorsed  by  the  full 
Conference  with  the  exception  of  the  Miners'  Federation  of  Great 
Britain,  whose  delegates  refused  to  accept  compulsory  arlntration, 
and  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers,  who  demanded  further 
safeguards.  As  we  shall  see,  the  second  of  these  bodies  subsequently 
accepted  the  agreement,  these  further  safeguards  having  been 
promised. 

It  is  necessary  to  set  out  in  full  the  clauses  of  the  Treasury  Agree- 
ment dealing  with  the  restoration  of  Trade  Union  conditions  after 
the  war,  as  these  form  the  first  substantial  guarantee  afforded  to 
Labor. 

(4)  Provided  that  the  conditions  set  out  in  paragraph  (5)  are  ac- 
cepted by  the  Government  as  applicable  to  all  contracts  for  the  exe- 
cution of  war  munitions  and  equipments  the  workmen's  representa- 
tives at  the  Conference  are  of  opinion  that  during  the  war  period  the 
relaxation  of  the  present  trade  practices  is  imperative,  and  that  each 
Union  be  recommended  to  take  into  favorable  consideration  such 
changes  in  working  conditions  or  trade  customs  as  may  be  necessary 
with  a  view  to  accelerating  the  output  of  war  munitions  or  equip- 
ments. 

(5)  The  recommendations  contained  in  paragraph  (4)  are  con- 
ditional on  Government  requiring  all  contractors  and  sub-con- 
tractors engaged  on  munitions  and  equipments  of  war  or  other  work 
required  for  the  satisfactory  completion  of  the  war  to  give  an  un- 
dertaking to  the  following  effect : — 

(i.)  Any  departure  during  the  war  from  the  practice  ruling  in  our 
workshops,  shipyards,  and  other  industries  prior  to  the  war 
*  shall  only  be  for  the  period  of  the  war. 

(ii.)  No  change  in  practice  made  during  the  war  shall  be  allowed 
to  prejudice  the  position  of  the  workpeople  in  our  employ- 
ment, or  of  their  Trade  Unions  in  regard  to  the  resumption 
and  maintenance  after  the  war  of  any  rules  or  customs  exist- 
ing prior  to  the  war. 

(iii.)  In  any  readjustment  of  staff  which  may  have  to  be  effected 
after  the  w-ar  priority  of  employment  will  be  given  to  work- 
men in  our  employment  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  who  are 


APPENDIX  E  273 

serving  "with  the  colors  or  who  are  now  in  our  employment. 

(iv.)  Where  the  custom  of  a  shop  is  changed  during  the  war  by 
the  introduction  of  semi-skilled  men  to  perform  work 
hitherto  performed  by  a  class  of  workmen  of  higher  skill, 
the  rates  paid  shall  be  the  usual  rates  of  the  district  for 
that  class  of  work. 

(v.)  The  relaxation  of  existing  demarcation  restrictions  or  ad- 
mission of  semi-skilled  or  female  labor  shall  not  affect 
adversely  the  rates  customarily  paid  for  the  job.  In  cases 
where  men  who  ordinarily  do  the  work  are  adversely  affected 
thereby,  the  necessary  readjustments  shall  be  made  so  that 
they  can  maintain  their  previous  earnings. 

(vi.)  A  record  of  the  nature  of  the  departure  from  the  conditions 
prevailing  before  the  date  of  this  undertaking  shall  be  kept 
and  shall  be  open  for  inspection  by  the  authorized  repre- 
sentative of  the  Government. 

(vii.)  Due  notice  shall  be  given  to  the  workmen  concerned  wherever 
practicable  of  any  changes  of  working  conditions  which  it  is 
desired  to  introduce  as  the  result  of  this  arrangement,  and 
opportunity  of  local  consultation  with  men  or  their  repre- 
sentatives shall  be  given  if  desired. 

(viii.)  All  differences  with  our  workmen  engaged  on  Government 
work  arising  out  of  changes  so  introduced  or  with  regard  to 
wages  or  conditions  of  employment  arising  out  of  the  war 
shall  be  settled  without  stoppage  of  work  in  accordance  with 
the  procedure  laid  down  in  paragraph  (2). 

(ix.)   It  is  clearly  understood  that  except  as  expressly  provided  in 
the  fourth  paragraph  of  clause  5  nothing  in  this  undertaking 
is  to  prejudice  the  position  of  employers  or  employes  after 
the  war. 
(Signed)         D.  Lloyd  George. 

Walter  Runciman. 
Arthur  Henderson 

(Chairman  of  Workmen's  Representatives). 
Wm.  Mosses 

(Secretary  of  Workmen's  Representatives). 
March  19th,  1915. 

For  convenience,  the  material  difference  between  the  clauses  of  this 
undertaking  and  those  of  Schedule  II.  of  the  Munitions  Act  are  set 
out  here,  although  Schedule  II.  itself  is  quoted  on  a  later  page. 


274  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Treasury  Agreement  Schedule  II. 

Clause  (iii.)  "or  who  are  now  in  "or  who  were  in  the  owners'  em- 
our  employment."  ployment  when  the  establish- 

ment    became     a     controlled 
establishment." 

Clause  (vi.)  "conditions  prevail-  "conditions   prevailing  when  the 
ing-    before    the   date    of    this  establishment    became  a   con- 

undertaking."  trolled  establishment." 

Clause    (vii.)    "desired  to  intro-  "desired  to  introduce  o-s  t/ie  reauZf 
duee  as  a  result  of  this  ar-  of  the  establishment  becoming 

rangement."  a  controlled  establishment." 

Clause     (viii.)     "in     accordance  "in    accordance    with    this    Act 
with  the  procedure  laid  down  witliout  stoppage  of  work." 

in  paragrajih  (2)." 

There  are  other  small  verbal  changes;  but  these  alone  affect  the 
meaning  of  tlie  document.     The  net  effect  of  the  changes  is  this : — 

(1)  Under  the  Munitions  Act  a  statutory  guarantee  is  given  apply- 
ing only  to  controlled  establishments  and  dating  only  from  the  day 
on  which  any  particular  establishment  becomes  controlled. 

(2)  Under  the  Treasury  Agreement,  this  guarantee  is  dated  back 
to  March  19th,  1915,  in  the  case  of  all  establishments  which  availed 
themselves  of  the  Treasury  Agreement,  whether  they  subsequently 
became  controlled  or  not.  But  this  guarantee  has  no  statutory  force, 
and  rests  only  on  an  undertaking  given  by  firms  to  the  Government. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  acceptance  of  the  Treasury  Agreement  by 
the  Unions  was  conditional  upon  the  employer  giving  a  guarantee  to 
the  Government  that  Trade  Union  rules  and  customs  should  be  re- 
stored after  the  war.  It  would  be  desirable  to  discover  from  the 
Government  the  number  of  guarantees  from  individual  tirms  under 
the  Treasury  Agreement  which  they  secured  on  behalf  of  the  Unions 
between  the  date  of  the  agreement  and  the  passage  of  the  Act. 

Mr.  Arthur  Henderson,  speaking  during  the  Committee  stage  of 
the  Munitions  Bill  on  July  1st,  1915,  used  these  words: — 

"We  have  to  keep  in  mind  that  this  schedule  has  been  operating 
since  the  the  19th  of  March,  and  has  been  made  a  condition  of  Gov- 
ernment contracts  that  have  been  given  out  since  that  date." 

The  passage  of  the  Munitions  Act,  it  will  be  understood,  did  not 
remove  the  necessity  for  tliese  guarantees,  which  serve  to  pre-date  the 
provisions  of  Schedule  II.  by  a  number  of  months.  Moreover,  the 
Treasury  Agreement  applied  to  certain  trades  and  industries  which 


APPENDIX  E  275 

did  not  come  under  the  provisions  of  Schedule  II.  of  the  Munitions 
Act,  and  in  their  cases  the  Treasury  Agreement  still  holds  good  as  a 
guarantee  of  restoration.  In  order  that  the  importance  of  this  point 
may  be  realized  a  list  of  the  Unions  which  accepted  the  agreement, 
divided  into  large  groups,  is  given.  It  will  be  seen  that  textile 
workers,  railwaymen,  transport  workers,  boot  and  shoe  operatives, 
and  others  are  included. 
(A.)  General. 

The  Parliamentary  Committee  of  the  Trades  Union  Congress. 

The  General  Federation  of  Trade  Unions. 
(B.)   Engineering. 

Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers. 

Steam  Engine  Makers. 

United  Machine  Workers. 

Amalgamated  Toolmakers. 

United  Patternmakers. 

Friendly  Society  of  Ironfounders. 

Associated  Ironmolders  of  Scotland. 

Associated  Blacksmiths  and  Ironworkers. 

Electrical  Trades  Union. 

Federation  of  Engineering  and  Shipbuilding  Trades. 
(C.)   Shipbuilding. 

United  Boilermakers  and  Iron  and  Steel  Shipbuilders. 

Shipconstructors'  and  Shipwrights'  Association. 

Sheet  Iron  Workers  and  Light  Platers. 

Shipbuilding  Trades  Agreement  Committee. 
(D.)  Iron  and  Steel  Trades. 

British  Steel  Smelters. 

Associated  Iron  and  Steel  Workers. 
(E.)  Other  Metal  Trades. 

National  Amalgamated  Sheet  Metal  Workers. 

General  Union  of  Braziers  and  Sheet  Metal  Workers. 

Operative  Plumbers. 
(F.)  Woodworkers. 

Amalgamated  Society  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners. 

General  Union  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners. 

House  and  Ship  Painters  and  Decorators. 

Scottish  Painters. 

Furnishing  Trades  Association. 

Woodcutting  Machinists. 

Amalgamated  Cabinet  Makers. 
(G.)  Laborers. 

National  Union  of  Gasworkers  and  General  Laborers. 


276  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Workers'  Union. 

National  Amalgamated  Union  of  Labor. 
(H.)  Transport. 

National  Union  of  KailwajTnen. 

National  Transport  Workers'  Federation. 
(I.)  Woolen. 

General  Union  of  Textile  Workers. 
(J.)  Boot  and  Shoe. 

National  Union  of  Boot  and  Shoe  Operatives. 
The  Amalj^amated  Society  of  Engineers,  as  we  have  seen,  was  not 
satisfied  with  the  safeguards  provided  by  the  Treasury  Agreement. 
Accordingly,  on  March  25th,  1915,  a  Special  Conference  was  held 
between  tlie  A.S.E.  and  the  Government,  at  which  Mr.  Lloyd  George 
gave,  on  behalf  of  the  Government,  a  further  undertaking  in  the 
following  terms: — 

ACCELERATION  OF  OUTPUT  ON  GOVERNMENT  WORK 

At  a  meeting  held  at  the  Treasury  on  March  25th,  1915,  between 
the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  and  the  President  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  and  the  Executive  Council  and  Organizing  District  Delegates 
of  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers,  the  Chancellor  explained 
the  circumstances  in  which  it  had  become  essential  for  the  successful 
prosecution  of  the  war  to  conclude  an  agreement  with  the  Trade 
Unions  for  the  acceleration  of  output  on  Government  work.  After 
discussion,  the  representatives  of  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engi- 
neers resolved  that  in  the  light  of  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer's 
statement  and  explanations  the  agreement  be  accepted  by  the  Union, 
and  expressed  a  desire  that  the  following  statements  by  the  Chancel- 
lor of  the  Exchequer  in  answer  to  (juestions  put  to  him  as  to  the 
meaning  of  various  clauses  in  the  memorandum  agreed  upon  at  a 
conference  with  workmen's  representatives  on  March  17th-19th  be 
put  on  record  : — 

1.  That  it  is  the  intention  of  the  Government  to  conclude  ar- 
rangements with  all  important  firms  engaged  wholly  or  mainly  upon 
engineering  and  shijibuilding  work  for  war  purposes,  under  which 
their  profits  will  be  limited,  with  a  view  to  securing  that  benefit 
resulting  from  the  relaxation  of  trade  restrictions  or  practices  shall 
accrue  to  the  State. 

2.  That  the  relaxation  of  trade  practices  contemplated  in  the  agree- 
ment relates  solely  to  work  done  for  war  purposes  during  the  war 
period. 

3.  That  in  the  case  of  the  introduction  of  new  inventions  which 


APPENDIX  E  277 

were  not  in  existence  in  the  pre-war  period,  the  class  of  workmen  to 
be  emploj^ed  on  this  work  after  the  war  should  be  determined  accord- 
ing to  the  practice  prevailing  before  the  war  in  the  case  of  the  class 
of  work  most  nearly  analogous. 

4.  That  on  demand  by  the  workmen  the  Government  Department 
concerned  Avill  be  prepared  to  certify  whether  the  work  in  question 
is  needed  for  war  purposes. 

5.  That  the  Government  will  undertake  to  use  its  influence  to  se- 
cure the  restoration  of  previous  conditions  in  everj'  case  after  the 
war. 

D.  Lloyd  George. 

Walter  Runciiian. 

J.  T.  Brownlie^  Chairman. 

W.  Harold  Hutchinson,  Executive  Council. 

George  Ryder,  Organizing  District  Delegate. 

Robert  Young,  General  Secretar}\ 

II. — the   munition   of   "WAR  ACT,   1915 

No  further  pledges  were  given  until  the  passage  of  the  Munitions  of 
War  Act  in  Julj',  1915.  The  effect  of  this  Act  was  to  create  a  special 
class  of  controlled  establishments  in  which  profits  were  limited,  and 
"any  rule,  practice,  or  custom  not  having  the  force  of  law  which  tends 
to  restrict  production  or  employment"  was  suspended  for  the  period 
of  the  war.  The  provisions  for  suspension  of  Trade  Union  customs 
and  the  guarantees  of  restoration  under  the  Act  are  alike  limited  to 
controlled  establishments. 

The  passage  in  the  Act  itself  which  makes  provision  for  restoration 
is  as  follows: — 

4.  (4)  The  owner  of  the  establishment  shall  be  deemed  to  have 
entered  into  an  undertaking  to  carry  out  tlie  provisions  set  out  in 
the  second  Schedule  to  this  Act,  and  any  owner  or  contractor  or  sub- 
contractor who  breaks  or  attempts  to  break  such  an  undertaking 
shall  be  guilty  of  an  offense  under  this  Act. 

20.  (2)  This  Act  shall  have  effect  only  so  long  as  the  office  of 
Minister  of  Munitions  and  the  Ministry  of  Munitions  exist: — 

Provided  that  [Part  I.  of]  ^  this  Act  shall  continue  to  apply  for  a 
period  of  twelve  months  after  the  conclusion  of  tlie  present  war  to 
any  difference  arising  in  relation  to  the  performance  by  the  owner 
of  any  establishment  of  his  undertaking  to  carry  out  the  provisions 

1  The  words  in  square  brackets  were  struck  out  in  the  Amending  Act 
of  1916. 


^'78  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

si'l  out  in  the  second  Schedule  to  this  Act,  notwithstanding  that  the 
olTlce  of  Minister  of  Munitions  and  the  Ministry  of  Munitions  have 
ceased  to  exist. 

14.  (1)  Any  person  guilty  of  an  offense  under  this  Act — 
(o)  shall,  if  the  ollenbe  is  a  contravention  of  or  failure  to  comply 
with  an  award,  be  liable  to  a  fine  not  exceeding  £5  for  each  day  or 
part  of  a  day  during  which  the  contravention  or  failure  to  comply 
continues,  and,  if  the  person  guilty  of  the  offense  is  an  employer, 
for  each  man  in  respect  of  wlujm  the  contravention  or  failure  takes 
place. 

(2)  A  fine  for  any  offense,  under  this  Act,  shall  be  recoverable  only 
before  the  munitions  tribunal  established  for  the  purpose. 

Schedule  II. 

1.  Any  departure  during  the  war  from  the  practice  ruling  in  the 
workshops,  shipyards,  and  other  industries  prior  to  the  war,  shall 
only  be  for  the  period  of  the  war. 

2.  No  change  in  practice  made  during  the  war  shall  be  allowed 
to  prejudice  the  position  of  the  workmen  in  the  owners'  eraplo\Tnent, 
or  of  their  Trade  Unions  in  regard  to  the  resumption  and  main- 
tenance after  the  war  of  any  rules  or  customs  existing  prior  to  the 
war. 

3.  In  any  readjustment  of  staff  which  may  have  to  be  effected  after 
the  war  priority  of  employment  will  be  given  to  workmen  in  the 
owners'  employment  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  who  have  been  serv- 
ing with  the  colors  or  who  were  in  the  owners'  employment  when  the 
establishment  became  a  controlled  establishment. 

4.  Where  the  custom  of  a  shop  is  changed  during  the  war  by  the 
introduction  of  semi-skilled  men  to  perform  work  hitherto  performed 
by  a  class  of  workmen  of  higher  skill,  the  time  and  piece  rates  paid 
shall  be  the  usual  rates  of  the  district  for  that  class  of  work. 

5.  The  relaxation  of  existing  demarcation  restrictions  or  admission 
of  semi-skilled  or  female  labor  shall  not  affect  adversely  the  rates 
customarily  paid  for  the  job.  In  cases  where  men  who  ordinarily  do 
the  work  are  adversely  affected  thereby,  the  necessary  readjustments 
shall  be  made  so  that  they  can  maintain  their  previous  earnings. 

6.  A  record  of  the  nature  of  the  departure  from  the  conditions 
prevailing  when  the  establishment  became  a  controlled  establishment 
shall  be  kept,  and  shall  be  open  for  inspection  by  the  authorized 
representative  of  the  Government. 

7.  Due  notice  shall  be  given  to  tlie  workmen  concerned  wherever 
practicable  of  any  changes  of  working  conditions  which  it  is  desired 
to  introduce  as  the  result  of  the  establishment  becoming  a  controlled 


APPENDIX  E  279 

establishment,  and  opportunity  for  local  consultation  with  workmen 
or  their  representatives  shall  be  given  if  desired. 

8.  All  differences  with  workmen  engaged  on  Government  work 
arising  out  of  changes  so  introduced  or  with  regard  to  wajies  or  con- 
ditions of  employment  arising  out  of  the  war  sliall  be  settled  in 
accordance  with  this  Act  without  stoppage  of  work. 

9.  Nothing  in  this  Schedule  (except  as  provided  by  the  third  para- 
graph thereof)  shall  prejudice  the  position  of  employers  or  persons 
employed  after  the  war. 

In  September  the  Minister  of  Munitions  set  up  the  Central  Labor 
Supply  Committee  in  order  to  give  greater  effect  to  the  suspension  of 
Trade  Union  rules.  This  Committee,  on  which  employers  and  em- 
ployed were  represented,  together  with  the  Ministry  of  Munitions, 
drew  up  the  Dilution  of  Labor  Scheme,  and  the  Circulars  L.  2  and 
L.  3,  which  lay  down  rates  of  wages  for  women  on  men's  work  and 
for  unskilled  and  semi-skilled  men  on  skilled  men's  work.  These 
Circulars  contain  no  new  guarantees;  but,  in  issuing  them,  the  Min- 
istry of  Munitions  expressly  drew  attention  to  the  fact  that  they 
were  "strictly  confined  to  the  war  period  and  subject  to  the  observ- 
ance of  Schedule  II.  of  the  Munitions  of  War  Act." 

III. — THE  MUNITIONS  OF   WAR    (AMENDMENT)    ACT,   1916 

Most  of  the  new  guarantees  given  to  Labor  in  connection  with  the 
amendment  of  the  Munitions  Act  at  the  close  of  1915  dealt  rather 
with  the  rates  of  wages  to  be  paid  during  the  war  and  with  the  actual 
administration  of  the  Act  than  with  the  question  of  restoration.  At- 
tempts were  made  to  introduce  a  new  clause  greatly  extending  the 
scope  of  the  records  of  departures  from  Trade  Union  custom  which 
must  be  kept  under  Schedule  II.  This,  however,  was  opposed  by  the 
Government,  and  negatived  without  a  division.  The  only  clause 
containing  an  important  new  guarantee  had  to  do  with  the  question 
of  non-union  labor  ^  : — 

15.  Where  non-union  labor  is  introduced  during  the  war  into  any 
class  of  work  in  a  controlled  establishment  in  which  it  was  the  prac- 
tice prior  to  the  war  to  employ  union  labor  exclusively,  the  owner 
of  the  establishment  shall  be  deemed  to  have  undertaken  that  such 
introduction  shall  be  only  for  the  period  of  the  war,  and  if  he  breaks 
or  attempts  to  break  such  an  undertaking  he  shall  be  guilty  of  an 
offense  under  the  principal  Act  and  liable  to  a  fine  not  exceeding 

1  Two  purely  drafting  amendments  designed  to  remedy  technical  flaws 
in  the  principal  Act  have  been  ignored,  and,  in  describing  the  principal 
Act,  it  has  been  assumed  that  these  amendments  have  taken  effect. 


280  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

£50;  but,  .subject  ns  aforesaid,  sucb  introduction  shall  not  be  deemed 
to  be  a  change  of  working  conditions. 

rv. — SUMMARY   OF  THE   GUARANTEES 

1.  A  general  promise  has  been  given,  and  many  times  repeated, 
that  all  changes  made  during  the  war  are  only  for  the  period  of  the 
war,  and  that  restoration  will  take  place  in  all  cases  when  the  war  is 
over. 

2.  Statutory  fonu  has  been  given  to  this  pmriiise  in  the  case  of 
estai)li.sliiiients  which  are  controlled  under  the  Munitions  of  War 
Acts.  Only  in  such  establishments  are  Trade  Union  rules  suspended 
by  law,  and  only  in  such  establishments  is  there  a  legal  guarantee  of 
restoration. 

3.  In  other  eases,  i.e.,  in  regard  to  establishments  which  are  not 
controlled  and  in  industries  outside  the  scope  of  Part  II.  of  the 
Munitions  Act,  the  guarantees  of  restoration  depend  on  the  Treasury 
Agreement  and  on  undertakings  entered  into  by  tirras  and  by  the 
Government,  These  guarantees  are  obligations  of  honor;  but  are  not 
legaUij  enforceable. 

4.  Priority  of  emplo>Tnent  after  the  war  is  guaranteed  by  law  in 
the  case  of  controlled  establishments  to  men  serving  with  the  colors, 
and  to  men  who  were  employed  in  any  establishment  when  it  became 
controlled. 

5.  A  similar  guarantee,  resting  upon  the  Treasury  Agreement  and 
not  legally  enforceable,  exists  in  the  case  of  establishments  which  are 
not  controlled.  This  guarantee  also  holds  good  as  from  March  19th, 
1915,  in  the  case  of  establishments  which  subsequently  became  eon- 
trolled  (i.e.,  a  man  who  was  em])loyed  between  March  and  July  in  an 
establishment  w-hieh  became  controlled  under  the  Munitions  Acts  is 
guaranteed  priority  of  employment  under  the  Treasury  Agreement). 

6.  The  Government  has  given  a  promise,  which  has  not  the  force 
of  law,  that  where  new  inventions  are  introduced,  the  class  of  work- 
men to  operate  them  after  the  war  shall  be  determined  according  to 
the  practice  prevailing  before  the  war  in  tlie  nearest  analogous  class 
of  work. 

7.  It  is  guaranteed  by  law  that  where  non-union  labor  is  introduced 
on  any  class  of  work  in  a  controlled  establishment,  in  which  it  was 
the  practice  prior  to  the  war  to  employ  union  labor  exclusively,  the 
introduction  of  such  labor  shall  be  only  for  the  war  period. 


APPENDIX  E  281 

V. — NOTE  ON   GOVERNMENT  ESTABLISHMENTS 

The  question  has  arisen  whether  the  Government  itself,  in  its 
capacity  as  employer,  is  bound  by  the  above  pledges.  The  following 
answer,  given  by  the  Prime  Minister  on  August  21st,  1916,  in  answer 
to  a  question  by  Mr.  Duncan,  explains  the  position: — 

"The  Crown,  not  being  expressly  named  in  the  Munitions  of  War 
Act,  1915,  is  not  as  a  matter  of  law  bound  by  its  provisions.  There 
is  a  special  machinery  for  settling  such  questions  in  the  dockyards  to 
which  it  seems  desirable  to  resort  in  the  first  instance.  There  are 
other  eases  in  which  it  is  practically  impossible  to  arbitrate  in  regard 
to  isolated  classes  without  reference  to  the  interest  of  others.  It  is 
quite  recognized  that,  subject  to  exceptional  cases,  the  spirit  of  this 
provision  of  the  Act  should  be  observed  by  Government  Depart- 
ments." 

The  question  and  answer  in  this  case  refer  only  to  "the  pro- 
visions for  the  avoidance  of  disputes  enforced  upon  private  em- 
ployers" ;  but  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  answer  applies  in  principle 
to  the  restoration  of  Trade  Union  conditions  after  the  war. 

APPENDIX 

In  the  following  Appendix  there  have  been  gathered  together  for 
reference  the  most  important  statements  made  by  responsible  mem- 
bers of  the  Government  on  the  question  of  Trade  Union  rules.  Ex- 
tracts from  the  early  speeches  of  Mr.  Tennant  and  Mr.  Harold  Baker, 
on  behalf  of  the  War  Office,  in  February,  1915,  though  they  con- 
tain no  reference  to  guarantees,  have  been  given  because  they  are 
the  earliest  Government  pronouncements  on  the  matter  of  Trade 
Union  rules.  Apart  from  these  two  extracts,  only  passages  contain- 
ing explicit  promises  of  restoration  after  the  war  are  included : — 

Mr.  Tennant's  Speech,  House  of  Commons,  February  8th, 
1915:— 

"I  would  appeal  to  the  hon.  gentlemen  below  the  gangway  (the 
Labor  Party)  to  help  us  to  organize  the  forces  of  labor,  to  help  us  so 
that  where  one  man  goes  to  join  the  colors  his  place  may  be  taken  by 
a  man  who  is  not  of  military  age,  or  of  military  physique,  or  by  a 
woman.     I  believe  that  might  be  done. 

"I  would  ask  them  to  assist  the  Government  also  in  granting  only 
for  the  period  of  the  war  some  form  of  relaxation  of  their  rules  and 
regulations. 


i>HJi  MANAGEMENT  AM)  MEN 

"In  the  works  of  many  firms,  not  so  much  armament  firms  as  clotli- 
ing  firms,  {""actory  Act  rules  and  regulations  have  been  largely  abro- 
gated already,  and  I  would  seriously  ask  the  Labor  Party  whether 
they  could  not  prevail  upon  the  Trade  Unionists  in  this  country  to 
adopt  a  measure  of  a  purely  temporary  kind  for  the  relaxation  of 
some  of  the  more  stringent  regulations." 

RIk.  IIakou)  Bakkr's  Speech,  House  of  Commons,  P'ebruary  9th, 
1915  :— 

"There  are  certain  steps  which  may  be  considered  desirable.  The 
Trade  Unions  have  a  perfectly  proper  desire  to  safeguard  their  in- 
terests against  the  time  when  peace  returns.  If  we  leave  these 
things  to  be  settled  by  fair  and  proper  discussion  outside  we  shall 
be  more  likely  to  achieve  the  result  desired." 

Lord  Kitchener's  Speech,  House  op  Lords,  March  15th,  1915: — 

"It  has  been  brought  to  my  notice  on  more  than  one  occasion  that 
the  restrictions  of  Trade  Unions  have  undoubtedly  added  to  our  diffi- 
culties, not  so  much  in  obtaining  sufficient  labor,  as  in  making  the 
best  use  of  that  labor.  I  am  confident,  however,  that  the  seriousness 
of  the  position  as  regards  our  supplies  has  only  to  be  mentioned  and 
all  concerned  will  agree  to  waive  for  the  period  of  the  war  any  of 
those  restrictions  which  prevent  in  the  very  slightest  degree  our 
utilizing  all  the  labor  available  to  the  fullest  extent  that  is  possible." 

"The  second  proposition  is  the  suspension  where  necessary  during 
the  war  of  restrictions  of  output.  Here,  again,  I  want  to  make  it 
perfectly  clear  that  I  am  only  discussing  this  suspension  during  the 
war.  The  increase  in  output  is  so  essential  to  us,  where  we  have  to 
turn  out  munitions  of  war  not  merely  for  ourselves  but  to  help  our 
Allies,  that  I  do  hope  you  will  help  us  for  the  moment  by  suspend- 
ing the  operation  of  any  rules  or  regulations  which  tend  to  diminish 
the  output.  I  know  it  is  a  very  difficult  question  for  you  to  decide 
upon,  but  it  is  very  important  for  the  State  at  the  present  juncture." 

Mr.  Asquith's  Speech,  March  20th,  1915: — 

"What  are  those  sacrifices?  They  may,  I  think,  be  summarized 
under  three  heads — limitation  of  profits,  the  temporary  suspension  of 
restrictive  rules  and  customs,  and  the  provision  of  reasonable  com- 
pensation in  cases  of  proved  injury  or  loss.  The  first,  you  obsen^e, 
falls  upon  the  employer,  and  the  second  upon  the  men — especially 
upon  those  men  who  are  members  of  Trade  Unions — and  the  third 


APPENDIX  E  283 

upon  the  State.  Let  me  deal  with  each  of  them  in  a  single  sentence. 
As  to  profits,  I  believe  we  shall  all  agree  that  the  firms  and  com- 
panies who  are  supplying  the  State  with  munitions  of  war  should 
not  be  entitled  thereby  to  make  undue  profits  out  of  them.  That  we 
know  is  the  opinion,  and  is  going  to  be  the  practice  of  some  of  the 
greatest  and  most  representative  of  those  bodies.  Under  the  second 
head,  I  believe  there  is  an  equally  general  agreement,  and  I  hope  and 
trust  that  that  agreement  will  be  translated  into  practice,  and  that 
restrictive  regulations,  whether  as  regards  output  or  as  regards 
demarcation  of  different  classes  of  labor — regulations  on  long  expe- 
rience, which  we  may  without  prejudice  agree  to  be  quite  appropriate 
to  normal  conditions — may  be  suspended  while  war  lasts,  to  be 
resumed  thereafter.  I  know  well  that  an  agreement  to  that  effect 
has  been  come  to  between  the  Federation  of  Engineering  Employers 
and  the  great  Trade  Union,  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers, 
which  is  the  custodian  and  the  experienced  and  tried  trustee  of  the 
interests  of  the  men,  and  I  would  venture  to  express  a  strong  appeal 
that  the  agreement  may  be  carried  out  not  only  as  between  the 
parties  to  it,  but  with  the  general  assent  of  all  men  who  in  this 
critical  stage  of  our  fortunes  are  engaged  in  the  fabrications  of  muni- 
tions of  war.     They  will  suffer  for  nothing  in  the  long  run. 

"I  am  not  one  of  those,  if  there  be  such,  who  think  that  in  these 
matters  the  Trade  Unions  have  been  pursuing  chimeras  or  indulging 
in  a  passion  for  domineering  and  restrictive  regulation.  I  believe, 
on  the  contrary,  that  the  great  bulk,  I  won't  say  all — many  of  them 
are  much  open  to  argument — but  the  great  bulk  of  the  rules  and 
customs  which  they  have  adopted  as  the  fruit  of  long  experience  are 
justified  by  that  experience,  and  have  tended  not  to  diminish  but  to 
increase  the  output  of  our  industries.  But  we  are  living  in  ex- 
ceptional times.  We  have  to  meet  a  special  emergency,  and  you  may 
be  sure  they  will  not  be  prejudicing  the  interests  of  their  Unions  or 
the  cause  which  the  Union  represents  if  they  consent,  so  long  as 
those  critical  conditions  prevail,  to  a  temporary  waiving  and  sus- 
pension of  those  customs  and  rules." 

Mr.  Lloyd  George,  Treasury  Conference,  March  22nd,  1915: — 

"As  to  that  ...  we  realized  that  when  Labor  was  making  eon- 
cessions  to  us  by  relaxing  certain  rules  during  the  period  of  the  war 
Labor  was  quite  right  in  insisting  on  the  strictest  safeguards  against 
those  concessions  being  abused.  I  think  you  may  say  that  we  have 
practically  accepted  the  safeguards  suggested  by  the  delegates;  we 
were  so  entirely  in  agreement  with  them  as  to  the  desirability 
of  protecting  the  workmen's  interests  in  the  matter." 


J2H4.  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Mh.  Lloyd  Geokoe's  Speech,  House  of  Commons,  introducing  the 
Munitions  Bill,  June  23rd,  1915. 
"The  next  thing  is  the  suspenHion  during  the  war,  on  the  honor  and 
pledge  of  the  nation  that  tilings  would  be  restfjred  exactly  to  the 
position  they  were  in  before  the  suspension,  of  all  these  restrictions 
and  practices  that  interfere  with  the  increase  of  the  output  of  war 
materials." 

The  Home  Secretary  (Sir  John  Simon),  speaking  on  the  Second 
Reading  op  the  Munitions  Bill,  June  28th,  1915. 
"In  the  first  place,  you  must  make  it  plain,  and  you  must  not  only 
make  it  plain,  but  as  far  as  may  be  you  must  provide  in  your  Statute 
that  this  concession  that  workpeople  make  in  the  crisis  of  the  war  for 
the  country's  sake  is  a  temporary  concession,  which  does  not  in  the 
least  prejudice  their  established  rights  so  hardly  won  after,  in  many 
cases,  a  long  struggle  in  times  past.  This  is  a  provision  for  the  war, 
and  for  the  war  only,  and  it  is  an  essential  condition  of  that  which  we 
are  asking,  that  when  the  war  is  over  the  honor  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons is  pledged,  the  promise  of  the  Government  is  given,  and  all 
who  really  try  to  carry  this  Bill  undertake  that  organized  workpeople 
are  not  to  suffer  because  of  the  temporary  abandonment  of  Trade 
Union  restrictions." 

Mr.  Lloyd  George's  Statement  in  the  House  of  Commons  on 
Progress  of  Munitions  Department,  July  28th,  1915. 
"I  hope  they  will  take  not  merely  a  promise,  but  a  solemn  under- 
taking put  in  an  Act  of  Parliament  by  which  not  merely  the  Govern- 
ment, but  the  whole  of  the  House  of  Commons  and  the  House  of 
Lords  undertook  that  at  the  end  of  the  war  the  fact  of  their  abandon- 
ing those  practices  now  will  not  prevent  them  restoring  the  practices 
at  the  end  of  the  war.  It  is  so  vital  that  this  should  be  done  during 
the  war  that  even  an  undertaking  of  that  kind  must  be  honored." 

Mr.  Lloyd  George's  Speech  to  the  Trades  Union  Congress, 
September  9th,  1915 : — 
"The  next  undertaking  we  gave  was  that  we  would  give  a  guarantee 
that  at  the  end  of  the  war  the  pre-war  conditions  would  be  restored. 
How  have  we  done  that?  We  have  done  it,  not  merely  by  solemn 
declaration  on  the  part  of  the  Government,  but  we  have  embodied 
them  in  an  Act  of  Parliament.  We  have  a  statutory  guarantee  car- 
ried unanimously  by  Parliament,  by  men  of  all  parties — employers, 
workmen.  Liberal,  Unionist,  conscriptionist,  anti-conscriptionist,  pro- 
German,  and  anti-German — all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men.  They 
are  all  in  it,  and  they  are  all  committed  to  that  guarantee." 


APPENDIX  E  285 

Mb.  Asquith's  Reply  to  the  Triple  Alliance  Deputation,  Aug- 
ust 3rd,  1916.  ("Times"  Report.) 
"Mr.  Asquith  said  they  were  already  taking  steps  to  collect  and 
classify  the  various  war  pledges,  if  he  might  so  describe  them,  which 
had  been  given  affecting  Trade  Union  practices.  So  far  as  some- 
thing like  4,000  controlled  establishments  were  concerned,  Part  I.  of 
the  Munitions  Act  provided  for  the  continuance  of  an  arbitration 
fliachinery  for  the  interpretation  of  these  agreements  for  a  year  after 
the  war,  and  the  Government  were  carefully  considering  what  ma- 
chinery was  required  to  dispose  of  differences  of  interpretation,  if 
there  be  such,  in  agreements  affecting  other  works  and  establish- 
ments. Speaking  generally  on  this  point,  he  wished  to  say  that  the 
pledges  which  had  been  given,  and  the  obligations  incurred  under 
them,  were,  in  the  view  of  the  Government,  obligations  of  honor  and 
indisputably  valid,  and  nothing  but  the  assent  of  all  the  parties  con- 
cerned could  vary  them  or  dispense  with  their  complete  fuliilment." 

("Daily  Chronicle"  Report.) 
"On  the  first  of  the  five  proposals  put  before  him  (restoration  of 
Trade  Union  practices  after  the  war)  the  Prime  Minister  said  that 
most  explicit  and  emphatic  pledges  had  been  given  that  all  Trade 
Union  conditions  should  be  restored  after  the  war,  and  the  Govern- 
ment had  no  intention  of  departing  from  that  pledge  in  the  least 
degree.  Provision  was  made  for  the  interpretation  of  these  agree- 
ments in  all  controlled  establishments,  and  the  Government  was  care- 
fully considering  the  kind  of  machinery  to  be  set  up  to  dispose  of 
the  diflSculties  of  interpretation  in  other  establishments." 

Mr.  Montagu's  Speech,  House  op  Commons,  August  15th,  1916. 

"But  the  cessation  of  disputes  and  the  postponement  of  the  re- 
forms which  slowly  emerged  from  the  clash  of  conflicting  interests 
do  not  exhaust  the  full  measure  of  the  sacrifices  which  organized 
Labor  has  made.  The  Trade  Unions  place  on  one  side  the  whole 
armor  of  Trade  Union  regulations  upon  which  they  had  hitherto  re- 
lied. For  the  weapons  slowly  forged  during  long  years  of  struggle 
— rules  and  customs  relating  to  hours  of  labor,  overtime,  the  right 
of  entrance  to  trades,  demarcation  of  industry,  the  regulation  of  boy 
labor,  and  the  exclusion  of  women  from  certain  classes  of  occupa- 
tions— all  these,  directly  or  indirectly,  might  have  tended  to  reduce 
the  output  during  the  war.  The  Government  asked  Labor  to  put  all 
these  on  one  side.  It  was  a  great  deal  to  ask.  I  doubt  if  any  com- 
munity has  ever  been  asked  for  greater  sacrifices,  but  with  a  loyalty 
and  statesmanship  which  cannot  be  over-estimated  the  request  was 


286  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

readily  granted.  The  Trade  Unions  required,  and  they  were  right 
(o  rerjuire,  a  scrupulous  record  and  recognition  of  what  they  were 
conceding.  It  was  promised  to  theui  aa  a  right,  but  they  will  receive 
more,  not  only  tiie  restoration  of  the  system  they  temjjorarily  aban- 
doned, l)ut  the  gratitude  of  the  Army  and  of  the  nation,  and  they 
will,  I  trust,  phice  the  nation  still  further  in  their  debt  by  playing  an 
important  part  in  devising  some  system  which  will  reconcile  in  the 
future  coullicting  industrial  interests." 


APPENDIX  F 

THE  LABOR  PARTY'S  STATEMENT 

ON 

THE  LABOR  PROBLEMS  AFTER  THE  WAR 

DEMOBILIZATION 

(i.)  That  when  peace  comes  the  demobilization  and  discharge  of 
the  seven  or  eight  million  wage-earners  now  paid  from  public  funds, 
either  for  service  with  the  Colors  or  on  munition  work  and  other  war 
trades,  will  bring  to  the  whole  wage-earning  class  grave  peril  of  Un- 
employment, Reduction  of  Wages,  and  a  lasting  Degradation  of  the 
Standard  of  Life,  which  can  be  prevented  only  by  deliberate  National 
Organization ; 

(ii.)  That  this  Conference  accordingly  calls  upon  the  Government 
to  formulate  its  plan,  and  make  in  advance  all  arrangements  neces- 
sary for  coping  with  so  unparalleled  a  dislocation  of  industry ; 

(iii.)  That  regard  should  be  had,  in  stopping  Government  orders, 
reducing  the  staff  of  the  National  Factories,  and  demobilizing  the 
Army  to  the  state  of  the  Labor  Market  in  particular  industries  and 
in  different  districts,  so  as  both  to  supply  the  kinds  of  labor  most 
urgently  required  for  the  revival  of  peace  production,  and  to  prevent 
any  congestion  of  Unemployed ; 

(iv.)  That  it  is  imperative  that  suitable  provision  against  being 
turned  suddenly  adrift  without  resources  should  be  made  not  only 
for  the  soldiers,  but  also  for  the  three  million  operatives  in  muni- 
tion work  and  other  war  trades,  who  will  be  discharged  before  most 
of  the  Army  can  be  disbanded; 

(v.)  That  the  Conference,  noting  the  month's  furlough,  gratuity, 
free  railway  ticket,  and  a  year's  Unemployment  BeneHt  if  out  of 
work  already  promised  to  the  soldier,  urges  that  (a)  there  should  be 
no  gap  between  the  cessation  of  his  pay  and  separation  allowance 
and  the  beginning  of  his  Unemployment  Benefit,  and  (b)  that  this 
special  ex-soldier's  Unemployment  Benefit  given  to  all  should  be  ad- 
ditional to  any  Benefit  under  the  National  Insurance  Act,  to  which 
many  men  are  already  entitled  in  respect  of  contributions  deducted 
from  their  wages;  and 

(vi.)  That  any  Government  which  allows  the  discharged  soldier  to 

287 


288  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

fall  into  the  clutches  of  the  Poor  Law  should   be  instantly  driven 
from  office  by  an  outburst  of  popular  indignation. 

tup:  machinery  for  securing  employment 

(i.)  That  the  Conference  eraj)hatically  protests  ap^ainst  the  work  of 
re-settling  the  disbanded  soldiers  and  discharged  munition  workers 
into  new  situations — which  is  a  national  obligation — being  deemed 
«  matter  for  charity ;  and  against  this  public  duty  being  handed  over 
either  to  committees  of  philanthropists  or  benevolent  societies,  or  to 
any  of  the  military  or  recruiting  authorities; 

(ii.)  That  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  best  organization  for  plac- 
ing men  in  situations  is  a  national  Trade  Union  having  local 
Branches  throughout  the  Kingdom,  every  soldier  should  be  allowed, 
if  he  chooses,  to  have  a  duplicate  of  his  industrial  discharge  notice 
sent  through,  one  month  before  the  date  fixed  for  bis  discharge,  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Trade  Union  to  which  he  belongs  or  wishes  to 
belong ; 

(iii.)  That,  apart  from  this  use  of  the  Trade  Union,  it  is  necessary 
to  make  use  of  some  sucli  public  machinery  as  that  of  the  Employ- 
ment Exchanges,  but  that  before  the  existing  Exchanges  (which 
would  need  to  be  greatly  extended)  can  receive  the  cooperation  and 
support  of  the  organized  Labor  Movement,  without  which  their  oper- 
ations can  never  be  fully  successful,  it  is  imperative  that  they  should 
be  drastically  reformed  on  the  lines  laid  down  in  the  Demobilization 
Report  of  tlie  Labor  after  the  War  Committee,  and,  in  particular, 
that  each  Exchange  should  be  placed  under  the  supervision  and  con- 
trol of  a  Joint  Committee  of  Employers  and  Trade  Unionists,  in 
equal  numbers. 

(iv.)  That  no  Trade  Union  shall  be  brought  within  Part  II.  of  the 
National  Insurance  Act,  whether  administered  by  the  Employment 
Exchanges  or  otherwise,  unless  it  has  been  first  consulted,  and  agrees 
to  its  inclusion  therein. 

THE    RESTORATION    OF    TRADE    UNION    CONDITIONS 

(i.)  That  this  Conference  reminds  the  Government  that  it  is 
pledged  unreservedly  and  unconditionally,  and  the  nation  with  it,  in 
the  most  solemn  manner,  to  the  Restoration  after  the  War  of  all  the 
rules,  conditions  and  customs  that  prevailed  in  the  workshops  before 
the  War;  and  to  the  abrogation,  when  peace  comes,  of  all  the  changes 
introduced  not  only  in  the  National  Factories  and  the  4,500  Con- 
trolled Establishments,  but  also  in  the  large  number  of  others  to 
which  provisions  of  the  Munitions  Acts  have  been  applied; 


APPENDIX  F  289 

(ii.)  That  the  Conference  places  on  record  its  confident  expecta- 
tion and  desire  that  if  any  employers  should  be  so  unscrupulous  as 
to  hesitate  to  fulfil  this  pledge,  the  Government  will  see  to  it  that, 
in  no  industry  and  in  no  district,  is  any  quibbling  evasion  permitted 
of  an  obligation  in  which  the  whole  Labor  Movement  has  an  in- 
terest. 

(iii.)  In  view  of  the  unsatisfactory  character  of  the  provisions  in 
the  Munitions  Act  dealing  with  the  restoration  of  Trade  Union 
customs  after  the  war,  the  Conference  calls  upon  the  Government  to 
provide  adequate  statutory  machinery  for  restoration : 

"(a)  By  securing  that  all  provisions  in  the  Acts  necessary  to  en- 
force restoration  shall  continue  in  operation  for  a  full  year  after  the 
restrictive  provisions  abrogating  Trade  Union  rules  (Section  4  (3), 
and  giving  Munitions  Tribunals  disciplinary  powers  over  workmen 
(Section  7)  have  been  terminated. 

"(b)  By  removing  all  restrictions  upon  the  right  of  the  workmen 
to  strike  for  the  restoration  of  the  customs  which  have  been  abro- 
gated. 

"(e)  By  limiting  Compulsory  Arbitration  strictly  to  the  War 
period  and  providing  fully  that  the  right  to  prosecute  an  employer 
for  a  failure  to  restore  Trade  Union  customs  shall  continue  for  a 
full  year  after  the  termination  of  the  restrictive  powers  in  the  Acts. 

"The  Conference  further  calls  upon  Parliament  to  limit  all  re- 
strictive legislation  directed  against  workpeople  strictly  to  the  "War 
period,  and,  subject  to  the  above  exceptions,  calls  for  the  abrogation 
of  restrictive  clauses  in  the  Munitions  of  War  Acts  and  in  the  De- 
fense of  the  Realm  Acts,  immediately  upon  the  conclusion  of  hos- 
tilities." 

THE   PREVENTION    OF   UNEMPLOYMENT 

(i.)  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  Conference  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
Government  to  adopt  a  policy  of  deliberately  and  systematically 
preventing  the  occurrence  of  Unemployment,  instead  of  (as  hereto- 
fore) letting  Unemployment  occur,  and  then  seeking,  vainly  and 
expensively,  to  relieve  the  Unemployed; 

(ii.)  That  the  Government  can,  if  it  chooses,  arrange  the  public 
works  and  the  orders  of  National  Departments  and  Local  Authori- 
ties in  such  a  way  as  to  maintain  the  aggregate  demand  for  labor 
in  the  whole  Kingdom  (including  that  of  capitalist  employers)  ap- 
proximately at  a  uniform  level  from  year  to  year;  and  it  is  there- 
fore the  first  duty  of  the  Government  to  prevent  any  considerable 
or  widespread  fluctuations  in  the  total  numbers  employed  in  times 
of  good  or  bad  trade. 


5290  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

(iii.)  That  in  order  to  prt'imro  for  the  possibility  of  there  being 
extensive  Unemployment,  either  in  the  course  of  demfjbilization,  and 
in  the  first  years  of  peace,  it  is  essential  that  the  Government  should 
make  all  necessary  preparations  for  putting  instantly  in  hand  di- 
rectly or  through  the  Local  Authorities,  such  urgently  needed  public 
works  as  («)  the  rehousing  of  the  population  alike  in  rural  districts, 
mining  villages  and  town  slums,  to  the  extent,  possibly,  of  200 
millions  sterling;  (b)  the  immediate  making-good  of  the  shortage  of 
schools,  training  colleges,  technical  colleges,  etc.;  (c)  new  roads; 
{d)  light  railways;  {e)  the  reorganization  of  the  canal  system; 
(/)  afforestation;  (g)  the  reclamation  of  land;  (h)  the  develop- 
ment and  better  equipment  of  our  ports  and  harbors;  (i)  the  open- 
ing up  of  access  to  land  by  small  holdings  and  other  practicable 
ways. 

(iv.)  That  in  order  to  relieve  any  pressure  of  an  overstocked 
Labor  Market,  the  opportunity  should  be  taken  (a)  to  raise  the 
school-leaving  age  to  IG;  (6)  to  increase  the  number  of  bursaries 
for  Secondary  and  Higher  Education;  and  (c)  to  shorten  the  hours 
of  labor  of  all  young  persons  to  enable  them  to  attend  technical  and 
other  classes  in  the  daytime. 

(v.)  That  wherever  practicable  the  hours  of  labor  should  be  re- 
duced to  not  more  than  48  per  week,  without  reduction  of  the 
standard  rates  of  wages;  and  that  legislation  should  be  introduced 
accordingly. 

THE   MAINTENANCE  OP  THE   STANDARD  OP  LIFE 

(i.)  That  it  is  of  supreme  national  importance  that  there  should 
not  be  any  Degradation  of  the  Standard  of  Life  of  the  popula- 
tion; and  it  is  accordingly  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  see  to  it 
that,  when  peace  comes,  the  Standard  Rates  of  Wages  in  all  trades 
should,  relatively  to  the  cost  of  living,  be  fully  maintained. 

(ii.)  That  is  should  be  made  clear  to  employers  that  any  attempt 
to  reduce  the  customary  rates  of  wages  when  peace  comes,  or  to 
take  advantage  of  the  dislocation  of  demobilization  to  worsen  the 
conditions  of  labor,  will  certainly  lead  to  embittered  industrial  strife, 
which  will  be  in  the  highest  degree  detrimental  to  the  national  in- 
terests; and  the  Government  should  therefore  take  steps  to  avert 
such  a  calamity. 

(iii.)  That  the  Government  should  not  only,  as  the  greatest  em- 
ployer of  labor,  set  a  good  example  in  this  respect,  but  should 
also  seek  to  influence  employers  by  proclaiming  in  advance  that  it 
will  not  attempt  to  lower  the  Standard  Rates  or  conditions  in  public 


APPENDIX  F  291 

employment,  by  announcing  that  it  will  insist  on  the  most  rigorous 
observance  of  the  Fair  Wages  Clause  in  public  contracts,  and  by 
recommending  every  Local  Authority  to  adopt  the  same  policy. 

THE  LEGAL.   MINIMUM   WAGE 

(i.)  That  the  Coal  Mines  (Minimum  Wage)  Act  should  be  main- 
tained in  force,  and  suitably  amended  so  as  to  ensure  greater  uni- 
formity of  conditions  among  the  several  districts,  and  so  as  to  make 
the  District  Minimum  in  all  cases  an  effective  reality; 

(ii.)  That  in  view  of  the  fact  that  many  millions  of  wage- 
earners,  notably,  women,  carmen,  agricultural  laborers,  and  work- 
men in  various  occupations,  are  unable  by  combination  to  obtain 
wages  adequate  for  decent  maintenance  in  health,  the  Trade  Boards 
Act  should  be  amended  and  made  to  apply  to  all  industrial  em- 
ployments in  which  the  bulk  of  those  employed  obtain  less  than  30s. 
per  week. 

(iii.)  That  this  minimum  of  not  less  than  30s.  per  week  be  a 
statutory  minimum  for  all  trades. 

THE   NATIONALIZATION   OF   RAILWAYS 

(i.)  That  the  Conference  most  emphatically  protests  against  the 
Railways,  which  are  under  Government  control,  being  handed  back 
after  the  war  to  the  control  of  the  shareholders,  whose  only  interest 
is  that  of  extracting  the  largest  possible  dividend ; 

(ii.)  The  Conference  asks  that  the  partial  Nationalization  which 
has  taken  place  should  be  completed  and  extended  to  those  canals 
which  are  still  outside  railway  control;  and  the  shareholders  should 
be  got  rid  of  by  taking  over  their  present  property  at  its  fair  mar- 
ket value;  and  that  the  transformation  of  the  railways  and  canals 
into  a  unified  public  service  of  transport  and  communication,  ad- 
ministered solely  in  the  public  interest  with  arrangements  for  the 
participation  in  the  managements,  both  local  and  central,  of  all 
grades  of  employees,  should  be  one  of  the  first  tasks  of  the  Govern- 
ment after  the  war. 

THE  NATIONALIZATION   OF   MINES 

(i.)  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  Conference  the  time  has  come 
when  this  country  should  no  longer  be  dependent  for  its  coal  supply 
on  a  small  number  of  capitalist  colliery  proprietors,  coal-merchants 
and  dealers,  among  whom  there  is  an  increasing  tendency  to  com- 
binations and  price-arrangements,  by  which  the  consumer  is  made  to 
pay  a  quite  unnecessary  price  for  coal;  and  that  the  Government 


292  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

should  at  once  take  over  all  coal  and  f)(hf!r  mines,  work  them  as  a 
national  cntcrpriap,  and  ai)propriate  to  the  nation  all  rents  and 
prolils ; 

(ii.)  That  in  organizing,'  the  nation's  coal  supply  on  the  ba-sis 
of  production  for  use  instead  of  production  for  profit,  due  arrange- 
ments should  be  made  for  the  participation  in  the  management,  both 
local  and  central,  of  the  employees  of  all  grades; 

(iii.)  That  the  Government  Coal  Department  might  undertake 
the  supply  for  export  and  shipping,  the  Local  Authorities  and  all 
industrial  consumers  of  any  magnitude;  delivering  the  coal  for 
domestic  consumption  to  any  railway  station  at  a  fixed  price,  as 
unalterable  and  as  uniform  as  that  of  the  postage  stamp,  for  re- 
tailing and  delivery  at  a  fixed  additional  charge  just  covering  cost. 

AGRICULTURE 

(i.)  That  the  present  arrangements  for  the  production  and  dis- 
tribution of  food  in  this  country  amount  to  nothing  short  of  a  na- 
tional disgrace,  and  must  be  radically  altered  without  delay; 

(ii.)  That  it  is  imperative  that  the  Government  should  promptly 
resume  control  of  tlie  nation's  agricultural  land,  and  organize  its 
utilization  not  for  rent,  not  for  game,  not  for  the  social  amenity  of 
a  small  social  class,  not  even  for  obtaining  the  largest  percentage 
on  the  capital  employed,  but  solely  with  a  view  to  the  production  of 
the  largest  possible  proportion  of  the  foodstuffs  required  by  the 
population  of  these  islands  at  a  price  not  exceeding  that  for  which 
they  can  be  brought  from  other  lands; 

(iii.)  That  this  can  probably  best  be  attained  by  a  combination 
of  (a)  Government  farms,  administered  on  a  large  scale,  with  the 
utmost  use  of  machinery;  (6)  Small  Holdings  made  accessible  to 
practical  agriculturists;  (o)  Municipal  enterprises  in  agriculture, 
in  conjunction  with  municipal  institutions  of  various  kinds,  milk 
depots,  sewage  works,  etc.;  (d)  farms  let  to  Cooperative  Societies 
and  other  tenants,  under  covenants  requiring  the  kind  of  cultivation 
desired ; 

(iv.)  That  under  all  systems  the  agricultural  laborer  must  be  se- 
cured a  decent  cottage,  an  allotment,  and  a  Living  Wage; 

(v.)  That  the  distribution  of  foodstuffs  in  the  towns — from  milk 
and  meat  to  bread  and  vegetables — should  be  taken  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  present  multiplicity  of  dealers  and  shopkeepers,  and 
organized  by  Democratic  Consumers,  Cooperative  Societies  and  the 
Local  Authorities  working  in  conjvmction. 


APPENDIX  F  293 


TAXATION 

(i.)  That  in  view  of  the  enormous  debts  contracted  during  the 
war  and  of  the  necessity  to  lighten  national  financial  burdens  in 
order  to  enable  the  country  to  compete  successfully  on  the  markets 
of  the  world  so  soon  as  peace  comes,  this  Conference  demands  that 
an  equitable  system  of  conscription  of  accumulated  wealth  should 
be  put  into  operation  forthwith,  believing  that  no  system  of  income 
tax  or  excess  profits  duties  will  yield  enough  to  free  the  country 
from  oppressive  debts,  and  that  any  attempt  to  tax  food  or  the 
other  necessities  of  life  would  be  unjust  and  ruinous  to  the  masses 
of  the  people; 

(ii.)  That  the  only  solution  of  the  difiiculties  that  have  arisen  is 
a  system  of  taxation  by  which  the  necessary  national  income  shall 
be  derived  mainly  from  direct  taxation  and  imposts  upon  luxuries, 
and  that  the  taxation  upon  unearned  incomes  should  be  substantially 
increased  and  graded  so  that  on  the  higher  scales  it  should  be  not 
less  than  15s.  in  the  pound; 

(iii.)  That  the  whole  system  of  land  taxation  should  be  revised 
so  that  effect  should  be  given  to  the  fact  that  the  land  of  the  nation, 
which  has  been  defended  by  the  lives  and  sufferings  of  its  people, 
shall  belong  to  the  nation  and  be  used  for  the  nation's  benefit. 

(iv.)  That  as  during  the  war  the  Government  has  had  to  come 
to  the  assistance  of  the  banking  institutions  of  the  country,  and  that 
it  has  been  found  necessary  to  pay  very  high  rates  for  the  money 
raised,  adding  considerably  to  the  annual  burden  resulting  from  the 
war,  every  effort  should  be  made  to  nationalize  the  banking  system 
of  the  country  in  order  to  free  the  community  from  private  ex- 
ploitation. 

"That  this  Conference  emphatically  protests  against  the  repeated 
attempts  to  bring  Cooperative  dividends  within  the  scope  of  the 
Income  Tax." 

"That  this  Conference,  recognizing  that  the  huge  national  ex- 
penditure, caused  by  the  War,  has  to  be  met  by  increased  taxation, 
declares  that  those  who  claim  the  ownership  of  the  land  of  the 
country  should  be  required  to  make  a  special  contribution  towards 
its  defense.  It  therefore  calls  upon  the  Government  to  impose  a 
direct  tax  on  land  values  in  the  next  Budget,  and  to  enable  this  to 
be  done,  to  use  the  powers  conferred  by  the  Defense  of  the  Realm 
Act  to  compel  all  owners  of  land  to  furnish  an  immediate  declara- 


294  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

tion  of  <hc  present  value,  extent,  and  character  of  all  land  in  thfir 
possession. 

"That  this  Conference  affinns  that  such  a  tax,  in  addition  to  pro- 
viding a  large  amount  of  revenue,  would  open  up  the  land  to  the 
people,  increase  the  production  of  home  grown  food,  and  thus 
materially  reduce  the  prevailing  high  cost  of  living,  tend  to  raise 
wages,  and  lessen  the  evil  of  unemployment  which  threatens  on  the 
close  of  the  war." 

FRANCHISE 

(i.)  That  this  Conference  declares  that  the  war  has  made  ob- 
solete all  our  past  system  of  enfranchisement  and  registration; 

(ii.)  That  the  only  solution  of  the  difficulties  that  have  arisen 
is  Adult  Suffrage,  including  women; 

(iii.)  That  registration  should  be  so  conducted  that  everj'  proi)erly 
qualified  person  should  have  the  opportunity  to  vote  at  elections,  and 
that  this  entails  both  a  short  period  of  qualification  and  continuous 
registration ; 

(iv.)  That  soldiers  and  munition  workers  should  not  only  have 
the  right  of  voting  conferred  upon  them,  but  that  arrangements 
should  be  made  by  which  that  right  can  be  exercised,  including  the 
provision  of  facilities  for  all  candidates  to  put  their  views  fairly 
before  these  electors;  and  that  as  far  as  possible  similar  arrange- 
ments should  be  made  for  the  convenience  of  seamen  and  other 
electors  necessarily  absent  from  thir  constituencies; 

(v.)   That  redistribution  of  electorates  should  take  place  at  once; 

(vi.)  That  no  election  conducted  on  the  present  register,  or  before 
the  above  changes  have  been  made,  can  return  a  Parliament  which 
represents  the  nation. 

THE  POSITION   OF   WOMEN   AFTER  THE   WAR 

"That  in  view  of  the  great  national  services  rendered  by  women 
during  this  time  of  war,  and  of  the  importance  of  maintaining  a 
high  level  of  wages  for  both  men  and  women  workers,  this  Confer- 
ence urges: 

"(i.)  That  work  or  maintenance  at  fair  rates  should  be  provided 
for  all  women  displaced  from  their  employment  to  make  way 
for  men  returning  from  service  with  the  forces  or  other 
national  work, 
"(ii.)  That  full  inquiry  should  be  made  into  trades  and  processes 
previously  held  to  be  unhealthy  or  in  any  way  unsuitable 
for  women,  but  now  being  carried  on  by  them,  with  a  view 
to  making  recommendations  as  to  their  further  employ- 
ment in  such  trades. 


APPENDIX  F  295 

"(iii. )  That  all  women  employed  in  trades  formerly  closed  to 
them  should  only  continue  to  be  so  employed  at  Trade 
Union  rates  of  wages. 

"(iv.)  That  Trade  Unions  should  accept  women  members  in  all 
trades  in  which  they  are  employed." 

EDUCATION    AND    CHILD    WELFARE 

Admmistrative 

"Such  alterations  of  the  Education  Act  of  1902  as  shall  secure 
full  public  responsibility  for  the  maintenance  and  control  of  all 
grades  of  schools,  colleges  and  universities. 

"Abolition  of  all  education  fees. 

"Raising  of  the  school  leaving  age  to  16,  with  increased  number 
of  maintenance  grants,  graded  according  to  age  and  circumstances. 

"Universal  free  compulsory  secondary  education. 

"No  partial  or  half  time  exemptions  before  fulfilment  of  regular 
secondary  course,  and  not  then  unless  agreed  to  by  the  school 
doctor. 

"Education  Authority  to  have  equal  jurisdiction  over  part  time 
factory  employment  as  over  non-factory  employment. 

"Larger  proportion  of  local  education  costs  to  be  borne  by  Na- 
tional Treasury. 

"Pensions  for  secondary  teachers,  as  in  case  of  elementary  teach- 
ers in  England. 

Hygienic 

"Hygienic  conditions  in  elementary  schools  to  be  brought  up  to 
minimum  standard  of  best  secondary  schools. 

"School  Doctor  to  be  certifying  surgeon  for  half-timers  and  young 
persons  in  employment. 

"Full  scheme  of  free  public  medical  service  to  expectant  and 
nursing  mothers  and  their  children;  in  the  case  of  the  latter,  to  be 
continued  up  to  school  age  and  properly  coordinated  with  the  school 
medical  service. 

"Swimming  baths,  gymnasia,  and  the  best  known  scheme  of  phys- 
ical training  for  every  child  passing  through  the  schools. 

"A  scheme  of  physical  instruction  for  all  young  people  from  16 
to  20  years  of  age. 

"Amendment  of  Provision  of  Meals  Act,  so  as  to  provide  meals 
out  of  public  funds  for  all  school  children  certified  by  the  school 
doctor  to  be  improperly  or  insufficiently  nourished. 


5i96  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

EDUCATIONAL 

"Higher  scale  of  teachers'  salaries  and  higher  minimum  standard 
of  e(|uipmeut  for  teachers,  with  fuller  provision  of  facilities  for  in- 
tending teachers,  and  more  generous  public  help  for  all  accepted 
candidates. 

"Reduction  of  size  of  classes  in  elementary  schools  to  that  of 
secondary  schools. 

"Inlaying  fields  to  be  provided  for  elementary  schools. 

"All  liigiier  forms  of  education,  Technical  and  University,  to  be 
coordinated  under  public  control  and  entirely  free  to  all  pupils  de- 
sirous of  undertaking  the  course  provided. 

"Principle  of  open-air  schools  to  be  adopted  for  all  schools  at 
earliest  possible  moment.  A  great  increase  of  the  system  of  camp 
schools,  vacation  centers.     Travel  studies  by  sea  and  land. 

"No  specialization  until  last  year  of  secondary  school  course, 
when  bias  given  in  direction,  Tecbnical,  Professional  or  Commercial, 
as  part  of  a  general  education." 


APPENDIX  G 

INDUSTRIAL  REPORTS.    NUMBER  I. 
INDUSTRIAL   COUNCILS 

The  Whitley  Report,  together  with  the  Letter  of  the  Minister  of 
Labor  explaining  the  Government's  view  of  its  proposals. 

I.  LETTER  ADDRESSED  BY  THE  MINISTER  OF  LABOR 
TO  THE  LEADING  EMPLOYERS'  ASSOCIATIONS  AND 
TRADE  UNIONS 

Ministry  of  Labor, 

Montagu  House, 

Whitehall,  S.W.  1. 

20th  October,  1917. 
Sib, 

In  July  last  a  circular  letter  was  addressed  by  the  Ministry  of 
Labor  to  all  the  principal  Employers'  Associations  and  Trade 
Unions  asking  for  their  views  on  the  proposals  made  in  the  Report 
of  the  Whitley  Committee  on  Joint  Standing  Industrial  Councils,  a 
further  copy  of  which  is  enclosed.  As  a  result  of  the  replies  which 
have  been  received  from  a  large  number  of  Employers'  organiza- 
tions and  Trade  Unions  generally  favoring  the  adoption  of  tliose 
proposals,  the  War  Cabinet  have  decided  to  adopt  the  Report  as  part 
of  the  policy  which  they  hope  to  see  carried  into  effect  in  the  field 
of  industrial  reconstruction. 

In  order  that  the  precise  effect  of  this  decision  may  not  be  mis- 
understood, I  desire  to  draw  attention  to  one  or  two  points  which 
have  been  raised  in  the  communications  made  to  the  Ministry  on  the 
subject,  and  on  which  some  misapprehension  appears  to  exist  in  some 
quarters. 

In  the  first  place,  fears  have  been  expressed  that  the  proposal  to 
set  up  Industrial  Councils  indicates  an  intention  to  introduce  an  ele- 
ment of  State  interference  which  has  hitherto  not  existed  in  in- 
dustry. This  is  not  the  case.  The  formation  and  constitution  of 
the  Councils  must  be  principally  the  work  of  the  industries  them- 
selves.    Although,  for  reasons  which  will   be  explained  later,  the 

297 


298  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Qovemmcnt  are  very  anxious  that  such  Councils  sliould  bo  estab- 
lished in  all  th(!  wcll-or^'anizcd  industries  with  as  little  delay  as 
possihle,  they  fully  realize  that  the  success  of  the  scheme  must  de- 
pend upon  a  general  agreement  among  the  various  organizations 
within  a  given  industry  and  a  clearly  expressed  demand  for  the 
creation  of  a  Council.  Moreover,  when  formed,  the  Councils  would 
be  independent  bodies  electing  their  own  odicers  and  free  to  deter- 
mine their  own  functions  and  procedure  with  reference  to  the 
peculiar  needs  of  each  trade.  In  fact,  they  would  be  autonomous 
bodies,  and  they  would,  in  effect,  make  possible  a  larger  degree  of 
self-government  in   industry  than  exists  to-day. 

Secondly,  the  Report  has  been  interpreted  as  meaning  that  the 
general  constitution  which  it  suggests  should  be  applied  without 
modification  to  each  industry.  This  is  entirely  contrary  to  the 
view  of  the  Government  on  the  matter.  To  any  one  with  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  diverse  kinds  of  machinery  already  in  operation,  and 
the  varying  geographical  and  industrial  conditions  which  affect 
different  industries  it  will  be  obvious  that  no  rigid  scheme  can  be 
applied  to  all  of  them.  Each  industry  must  therefore  adapt  the 
proposals  made  in  the  Report  as  may  seem  most  suitable  to  its  own 
needs.  In  some  industries,  for  instance,  it  may  be  considered  by 
both  employers  and  employed  that  a  system  of  Works  Committees 
is  unnecessary  owing  to  the  perfection  of  the  arrangements  already 
in  operation  for  dealing  with  the  difficulties  arising  in  particular 
works  between  the  management  and  the  trade  union  officials.  In 
others  Works  Committees  have  done  very  valuable  work  where  they 
have  been  introduced  and  their  extension  on  agreed  lines  desen-es 
every  encouragement.  Again,  in  industries  which  are  largely  based 
on  district  organizations  it  will  probably  be  found  desirable  to  assign 
more  important  functions  to  the  District  Councils  than  would  be 
the  case  in  trades  which  are  more  completely  centralized  in  national 
bodies.  All  these  questions  will  have  to  be  threshed  out  by  the 
industries  themselves  and  settled  in  harmony  with  their  particular 
needs. 

Thirdly,  it  should  be  made  clear  that  representation  on  the  In- 
dustrial Councils  is  intended  to  be  on  the  basis  of  existing  organiza- 
tions among  employers  and  workmen  concerned  in  each  industry, 
although  it  will,  of  course,  be  open  to  the  Councils,  when  formed, 
to  grant  representation  to  any  new  bodies  which  may  come  into  ex- 
istence and  which  may  be  entitled  to  representation.  The  authority, 
and  consequently  the  usefulness  of  the  Councils  will  depend  en- 
tirely on  the  extent  to  which  they  represent  the  different  interests 


APPENDIX  G  299 

and  enjoy  the  whole-hearted  support  of  the  existing  organizations, 
and  it  is  therefore  desirable  that  representation  should  be  determined 
on  as  broad  a  basis  as  possible. 

Lastly,  it  has  been  suggested  that  the  scheme  is  intended  to  pro- 
mote compulsory  arbitration.  This  is  certainly  not  the  case.  What- 
ever agreements  may  be  made  for  dealing  with  disputes  must  be  left 
to  the  industry  itself  to  frame,  and  their  eflBcacy  must  depend  upon 
the  voluntary  cooperation  of  the  organizations  concerned  in  carrying 
them  out. 

I  should  now  like  to  explain  some  of  the  reasons  which  have  made 
the  Government  anxious  to  see  Industrial  Councils  established  as 
soon  as  possible  in  the  organized  trades.  The  experience  of  the 
war  has  shown  the  need  for  frequent  consultation  between  the  Gov- 
ernment and  the  chosen  representatives  of  both  employers  and  work- 
men on  vital  questions  concerning  those  industries  which  have  been 
most  affected  by  war  conditions.  In  some  instances  different  Gov- 
ernment Departments  have  approached  different  organizations  in 
the  same  industry,  and  in  many  cases  the  absence  of  joint  representa- 
tive bodies  which  can  speak  for  their  industries  as  a  whole  and 
voice  the  joint  opinion  of  employers  and  workmen,  has  been  found 
to  render  negotiations  much  more  difficult  than  they  would  other- 
wise have  been.  The  case  of  the  cotton  trade,  where  the  industry  is 
being  regulated  during  a  very  difficult  time  by  a  Joint  Board  of 
Control,  indicates  how  greatly  the  task  of  the  State  can  be  alleviated 
by  a  self-governing  body  capable  of  taking  charge  of  the  interests 
of  the  whole  industry.  The  problems  of  the  period  of  transition 
and  reconstruction  will  not  be  less  difficult  than  those  which  the 
war  has  created,  and  the  Government  accordingly  feel  that  the  task 
of  rebuilding  the  social  and  economic  fabric  on  a  broader  and  surer 
foundation  will  be  rendered  much  easier  if  in  the  organized  trades 
there  exist  representative  bodies  to  which  the  various  questions  of 
difficulty  can  be  referred  for  consideration  and  advice  as  they  arise. 
There  are  a  number  of  such  questions  on  which  the  Government  will 
need  the  united  and  considered  opinion  of  each  large  industry,  such 
as  the  demobilization  of  the  Forces,  the  re-settlement  of  munition 
workers  in  civil  industries,  apprenticeship  (especially  where  inter- 
rupted by  war  service),  the  training  and  employment  of  disabled 
soldiers,  and  the  control  of  raw  materials;  and  the  more  it  is  able 
to  avail  itself  of  such  an  opinion  the  more  satisfactory  and  stable  the 
solution  of  these  questions  is  likely  to  be. 

Further,  it  will  be  necessary  in  the  national  interest  to  ensure 


300  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

a  settlement  of  the  more  permanent  questions  which  have  caused 
differences  between  employers  and  employed  in  the  past,  on  such 
a  basis  as  to  prevent  the  occurrence  of  disputes  and  of  serious  stop- 
pa^'cs  in  the  ditlicult  period  during  which  the  problems  just  referred 
to  will  have  to  be  solved.  It  is  felt  that  this  object  can  only  be 
secured  by  the  existence  of  permanent  bodies  on  the  lines  suggested 
by  the  Whitley  Report,  which  will  be  capable  not  merely  of  dealing 
with  disputes  when  they  arise,  but  of  settling  the  big  questions  at 
issue  so  far  as  possible  on  such  a  basis  as  to  prevent  serious  con- 
flicts arising  at  all. 

The  above  statement  of  the  functions  of  the  Councils  is  not  in- 
tended to  be  exhaustive,  but  only  to  indicate  some  of  the  more  im- 
mediate questions  which  they  will  be  called  upon  to  deal  with  when 
set  up.  Their  general  objects  are  described  in  the  words  of  the 
Report  as  being  "to  offer  to  workpeople  the  means  of  attaining 
improved  conditions  of  employment  and  a  higher  standard  of  com- 
fort generally,  and  involve  the  enlistment  of  their  active  and  con- 
tinuous cooperation  in  the  promotion  of  industry."  Some  further 
specific  questions,  which  the  Councils  might  consider,  were  indi- 
cated by  the  Committee  in  paragraph  16  of  the  Report,  and  it  will 
be  for  the  Councils  themselves  to  determine  what  matters  they  shall 
deal  with.  Further,  such  Councils  would  obviously  be  the  suitable 
bodies  to  make  representations  to  the  Government  as  to  legislation, 
which  they  think  would  be  of  advantage  to  their  industr>\ 

In  order,  tlierefore,  that  the  Councils  may  be  able  to  fulfil  the 
duties  which  they  will  be  asked  to  undertake,  and  that  they  may  have 
the  requisite  status  for  doing  so,  the  Government  desire  it  to  be 
understood  that  the  Councils  will  be  recognized  as  the  official  stand- 
ing Consultative  Committees  to  the  Government  on  all  future  ques- 
tions affecting  the  industries  which  they  represent,  and  that  they 
will  be  the  normal  channel  through  which  the  opinion  and  experience 
of  an  Industry  will  be  sought  on  all  questions  with  which  the  in- 
dustry is  concerned.  It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  it  is  intended 
that  Industrial  Councils  should  play  a  definite  and  permanent  part 
in  the  economic  life  of  the  country,  and  the  Government  feels  that 
it  can  rely  on  both  employers  and  workmen  to  cooperate  in  order 
to  make  that  part  a  worthy  one. 

I  hope,  therefore,  that  you  will  take  this  letter  as  a  formal  re- 
quest to  your  organization  on  the  part  of  the  Government  to  con- 
sider the  question  of  carrying  out  the  recommendations  of  the  Re- 
port so  far  as  they  are  applicable  to  your  industry.  The  Ministry' 
of  Labor  will  be  willing  to  give  every  assistance  in  its  power  in  the 
establishment  of  Industrial  Coimcils,  and  will  be  glad  to  receive 


APPENDIX  G  301 

suggestions  as  to  the  way  in  which  it  can  be  given  most  effectively. 
In  particular,  it  will  be  ready  to  assist  in  the  convening  of  repre- 
sentative conferences  to  discuss  the  establishment  of  Councils,  to 
provide  secretarial  assistance  and  to  be  represented,  if  desired,  in 
a  consultative  capacity  at  the  preliminary  meetings.  The  Ministry 
will  be  glad  to  be  kept  informed  of  any  progress  made  in  the  direc- 
tion of  forming  Councils.  Although  the  scheme  is  only  intended,  and 
indeed  can  only  be  applied,  in  trades  which  are  well  organized  on 
both  sides,  I  would  point  out  that  it  rests  with  those  trades  which 
do  not  at  present  possess  a  sufficient  organization  to  bring  it  about  if 
they  desire  to  apply  it  to  themselves. 

In  conclusion,  I  would  again  emphasize  the  pressing  need  for  the 
representative  organizations  of  employers  and  workpeople  to  come 
together  in  the  organized  trades  and  to  prepare  themselves  for  the 
problems  of  reconstruction  by  forming  Councils  competent  to  deal 
with  them.  The  Government  trust  that  they  will  approach  these 
problems  not  as  two  opposing  forces  each  bent  on  getting  as  much 
and  giving  as  little  as  can  be  contrived,  but  as  forces  having  a  com- 
mon interest  in  working  together  for  the  welfare  of  their  industry, 
not  merely  for  the  sake  of  those  concerned  in  it,  but  also  for  the 
sake  of  the  nation  which  depends  so  largely  on  its  industries  for 
its  well-being.  If  the  spirit  which  has  enabled  all  classes  to  over- 
come by  willing  cooperation  the  innumerable  dangers  and  difficulties 
which  have  beset  us  during  the  war  is  applied  to  the  problems  of 
Reconstruction,  I  am  convinced  that  they  can  be  solved  in  a  way 
which  will  lay  the  foundation  of  the  future  prosperity  of  the  country 
and  of  those  engaged  in  its  great  industries. 

I  am.  Sir, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

Geo.  H.  Roberts. 


INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS 

Report  of  the   Reconstruction   Committee   on   Relations  Be- 
tween Employees  and  Employed 

The  Committee  consisted  of  the  following  members: — 
The  Right  Hon.  J.  H.  Whitley,  M.P.,  Chairman. 

(Chairman  of  Committees,  House  of  Commons.) 
Mr.  F.  S.  Button  (formerly  Member  of  Executive  Council,  Amal- 
gamated Society  of  Engineers). 


1 


302  MANAGEMENT  AM)  -MEN 

Sir   G.    .1.    Carter,    K.B.E.    (Chairman,    Shipbuilding    Employers' 

Federation ) . 
Professor  S.  J.  Chapman,  C.B.E.  (Professor  of  Political  Economy, 

University  of  Manchester). 
Sir   GiLHERT    Claugiiton,    Bart.    (Chairman,    London    and    North 

Western   Railway   Company). 
Mr.   J.   R.   Clynes,   M.P.    (President   National   Union   of  General 

Workers). 
Mr.  J.  A.  HoBsoN. 
Miss  Susan  Lawrence   (Member  of  London  County  Council   and 

Member  of  the   Executive   Committee   of  the   Women's   Trade 

Union  League). 
Mr.  J.  J.  Mallon   (Secretary,  National  Anti-Sweating  League). 
Sir  Thos.  a.  Ratcliffe-ElCis   (Secretarj-,  Mining  Association  of 

Great  Britain). 
Mr.    Robert    Smillie    (President,    Miners'    Federation    of    Great 

Britain). 
Mr.  Allan  M.  Smith  (Chairman,  Engineering  Employers'  Federa- 
tion). 
Miss  MONA  Wilson  (National  Health  Insurance  Commissioner). 

Mr.  H.  J.  Wilson,  Ministry-  of  Labor, 
Mr.  Arthur  Greenwood, 

Secretaries. 

To  the  Right  Honorable  D.  Lloyd  George,  M.P.,  Prime  Minister. 
Sir, 

We  have  the  honor  to  submit  the  following  Interim  Report  on 
Joint  Standing  Industrial  Councils. 

2.  The  terms  of  reference  to  the  Sub-Committee  are: — 

"(1)  To  make  and  consider  suggestions  for  securing  a  per- 
manent improvement  in  the  relations  between  employers  and 
workmen. 

"(2)  To  recommend  means  for  securing  that  industrial  con- 
ditions affecting  the  relations  between  employers  and  workmen 
sliall  be  systematically  reviewed  by  those  concerned,  with  a 
view  to  improving  conditions  in  the  future." 

3.  After  a  general  consideration  of  our  duties  in  relation  to  the 
matters  referred  to  us,  we  decided  first  to  address  ourselves  to  the 
problem  of  establishing  permanently  improved  relations  between 
employers  and  employed  in  the  main  industries  of  the  country,  in 
which  there  exist  representative  organizations  on  both  sides.  The 
present  report  accordingly  deals  more  especially  with  these  trades. 


APPExNDIX  G  303 

We  are  proceeding  with  the  consideration  of  the  problems  connected 
with  the  industries  which  are  less  well  organized. 

4.  We  appreciate  that  under  the  pressure  of  the  war  both  em- 
ployers and  wuriipeui>le  and  their  organizations  are  very  much 
pre-occupied,  but,  notwithstanding,  we  believe  it  to  be  of  the  high- 
est importance  that  our  proposals  should  be  put  before  those  con- 
cerned without  delay,  so  that  employers  and  employed  may  meet  in 
the  near  future  and  discuss  the  problems  before  them. 

5.  The  circumstances  of  the  present  time  are  admitted  on  all  sides 
to  offer  a  great  opportunity  for  securing  a  permanent  improvement 
in  the  relations  between  employers  and  employed,  while  failure  to 
utilize  the  opportunity  may  involve  the  nation  in  grave  industrial 
difficulties  at  the  end  of  the  war. 

It  is  generally  allowed  that  the  war  almost  enforced  some  re- 
construction of  industry,  and  in  considering  the  subjects  referred  to 
us  we  have  kept  in  view  the  need  for  securing  in  the  development 
of  reconstruction  the  largest  possible  measure  of  cooperation  be- 
tween employers  and  employed. 

In  the  interests  of  the  community  it  is  vital  that  after  the  war 
the  cooperation  of  all  classes,  established  during  the  war,  should 
continue,  and  more  especially  with  regard  to  the  relations  between 
employer^  and  employed.  For  securing  improvement  in  the  latter, 
it  is  essential  that  any  proposals  put  forward  should  offer  to  work- 
people the  means  of  attaining  improved  conditions  of  employment 
and  a  higher  standard  of  comfort  generally,  and  involve  the  enlist- 
ment of  their  active  and  continuous  cooperation  in  the  promotion 
of  industry. 

To  this  end,  the  establishment  for  each  industry  of  an  organiza- 
tion, representative  of  employers  and  workpeople,  to  have  as  its 
object  the  regular  consideration  of  matters  affecting  the  i)rogress  and 
well-being  of  the  trade  from  the  point  of  view  of  all  those  engaged 
in  it,  so  far  as  this  is  consistent  with  the  general  interest  of  the 
community,  appears  to  us  necessary. 

6.  Many  complicated  problems  have  arisen  during  the  war  which 
have  a  bearing  both  on  employers  and  workpeople,  and  may  affect 
the  relations  between  them.  It  is  clear  that  industrial  conditions 
will  need  careful  handling  if  grave  difficulties  and  strained  rela- 
tions are  to  be  avoided  after  the  war  has  ended.  The  precise  na- 
ture of  the  problems  to  be  faced  naturally  varies  from  industry 
to  industry,  and  even  from  branch  to  branch  within  the  same  in- 
dustry. Their  treatment  consequently  will  need  an  intimate  knowl- 
edge of  the  facts  and  circumstances  of  each  trade,  and  such  knowl- 


inn  mana(;km1':nt  and  mi:\ 

edge  is  to  l)c  found  only  anions;  those  directly  connected  with  the 
trade. 

7.  With  a  view  to  providinp^  means  for  carrying  out  the  policy 
outlined  above,  we  recomnicnd  tliat  His  Majesty's  Government  should 
propose  without  delay  to  the  various  associations  of  employers  and 
employed  the  formation  of  Joint  Standing  Industrial  Councils  in 
the  several  industries,  where  they  do  not  already  exist,  composed  of 
representatives  of  employers  and  employed,  regard  being  paid  to 
the  various  sections  of  the  industry  and  the  various  classes  of  la- 
bor engaged. 

8.  The  appointment  of  a  Chairman  or  Chairmen  should,  we  think, 
be  left  to  the  Council  who  may  decide  that  these  should  be — 

(1)  A  Chairman  for  each  side  of  the  Council; 

(2)  A  Chairman  and  Vice-Chairman  selected  from  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Council  (one  from  each  side  of  the  Council)  ; 

(3)  A  Chairman  chosen  by  the  Council  from  independent 
persons  outside  the  industry;  or 

(4)  A  Chairman  nominated  by  such  person  or  authority  as 
the  Council  may  determine  or,  failing  agreement,  by  the  Gov- 
ernment. 

9.  The  Council  should  meet  at  reirular  and  frequent  intervals. 

10.  The  objects  to  which  the  consideration  of  the  Councils  should 
be  directed  should  be  appropriate  matters  affecting  the  several  in- 
dustries and  particularly  the  establishment  of  a  closer  cooperation 
between  employers  and  employed.  Questions  connected  with  de- 
mobilization will  call  for  early  attention. 

11.  One  of  the  chief  factors  in  the  problem,  as  it  at  first  pre- 
sents itself,  consists  of  the  guarantees  given  by  the  Government, 
with  Parliamentary  sanction,  and  the  various  undertakings  entered 
into  by  employers,  to  restore  the  Trade  Union  rules  and  customs 
suspended  during  the  war.  While  this  does  not  mean  that  all  the 
lessons  learnt  during  the  war  should  be  ignored,  it  does  mean  that 
the  definite  cooperation  and  acquiescence  by  both  employers  and  em- 
ployed must  be  a  condition  of  any  setting  aside  of  these  guarantees 
or  undertakings,  and  that,  if  new  arrangements  are  to  be  reached, 
in  themselves  more  satisfactory  to  all  parties  but  not  in  strict  ac- 
cordance with  the  guarantees,  they  must  be  the  joint  work  of  em- 
ployers and  employed. 

12.  The  matters  to  be  considered  by  the  Councils  must  inevitably 
differ  widely  from  industry  to  industry,  as  different  circumstances 
and  conditions  call  for  different  treatment,  but  we  are  of  opinion 
that  the  suggestions  set  forth  below  ought  to  be  taken  into  account, 


APPENDIX  G  305 

subject  to  such  modification  in  each  ease  as  may  serve  to  adapt  them 
to  the  needs  of  the  various  industries. 

13.  In  the  well-organized  industries,  one  of  the  first  questions  to 
be  considered  should  be  the  establishment  of  local  and  works  or- 
ganizations to  supplement  and  make  more  effective  the  work  of  the 
central  bodies.  It  is  not  enough  to  secure  cooperation  at  the  center 
between  the  national  organizations;  it  is  equally  necessary  to  en- 
list the  activity  and  support  of  employers  and  employed  in  the  dis- 
tricts and  in  individual  establishments.  The  National  Industrial 
Council  should  not  be  regarded  as  complete  in  itself;  what  is  needed 
is  a  triple  organization — in  the  workshops,  the  districts,  and  na- 
tionally. Moreover,  it  is  essential  that  the  organization  at  each  of 
these  three  stages  should  proceed  on  a  common  principle,  and  that 
the  greatest  measure  of  common  action  between  them  should  be 
secured. 

14.  With  this  end  in  view,  we  are  of  opinion  that  the  following 
proposals  should  be  laid  before  the  National  Industrial  Councils: — 

(a)   That  District  Councils,  representative  of  the  Trade  Unions 
and   of   the   Employers'   Association   in   the   industry, 
should  be  created,  or  developed   out  of  the  existing 
machinery  for  negotiation  in  the  various  trades. 
(6)   That  Works  Committees,  representative  of  the  management 
and  of  the  workers  employed,  should  be  instituted  in 
particular  works  to  act  in  close  cooperation  with  the 
district  and  national  machinery. 
As  it  is  of  the  highest  importance  that  the  scheme  making  pro- 
vision for  these  Committees  should  be  such  as  to  secure  the  support 
of  the  Trade  Unions  and  Employers'  Associations  concerned,  its  de- 
sign should  be  a  matter  for  agreement  between  these  organizations. 
Just  as  regular  meetings  and  continuity  of  cooperation  are  es- 
sential in  the  case  of  the  National  Industrial  Councils,  so  they  seem 
to  be  necessary  in  the  ease  of  the  district  and  works  organizations. 
The  object  is  to  secure  cooperation  by  granting  to  workpeople  a 
greater  share   in   the   considei'ation   of   matters   affecting   tlieir   in- 
dustry, and  this  can  only  be  achieved  by  keeping  employers  and 
workpeople  in  constant  touch. 

15.  The  respective  functions  of  Works  Committees,  District 
Councils,  and  National  Councils  will  no  doubt  require  to  be  deter- 
mined separately  in  accordance  with  the  varying  conditions  of  dif- 
ferent industries.  Care  will  need  to  be  taken  in  each  case  to  delimit 
accurately  their  respective  functions,  in  order  to  avoid  overlapping 
and  resulting  friction.  For  instance,  where  conditions  of  employ- 
ment are  determined  by  national  agreements,  the  District  Councils 


;J()G  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

<»r  Works  Committees  should  not  })(•  allowed  to  contract  out  of  con- 
ditions so  lai<l  down,  nor,  where  conditions  are  deteniiined  by  local 
agreements,   sliould  such   power  be   allowed   to   Works   Committees. 

16.  Among  the  questions  with  which  it  is  suggested  that  the  Na- 
tional Councils  should  deal  or  allocate  to  District  Councils  or  \Vorks 
Committees  the  following  may  be  selected  for  special  mention: — 

(i)  The  better  utilization  of  the  practical  knowledge  and 
experience  of  the  workpeople. 

(ii)  Means  for  securing  to  the  workpeople  a  greater  share 
in  and  responsibility  for  the  determination  and  observance  of 
the  conditions  under  which  their  work  is  carried  on. 

(iii)  The  settlement  of  the  general  principles  governing  the 
conditions  of  employment,  including  the  methods  of  tixing,  pay- 
ing, and  readjusting  wages,  having  regard  to  tiie  need  for  se- 
curing to  the  workpeople  a  share  in  the  increased  prosperity 
of  the  industry. 

(iv)  The  establishment  of  regular  methods  of  negotiation 
for  issues  arising  between  employers  and  workpeople,  with  a 
view  both  to  the  prevention  of  differences,  and  to  their  better 
adjustment  when  they  appear. 

(v)  Means  of  ensuring  to  the  workpeople  the  grreatest  possi- 
ble security  of  earnings  and  employment,  without  undue  re- 
striction upon  change  of  occupation  or  employer. 

(vi.)  Methods  of  fixing  and  adjusting  earnings,  piecework 
prices,  etc.,  and  of  dealing  with  the  many  difficulties  which  arise 
with  regard  to  the  method  and  amount  of  payment  apart  from 
the  fixing  of  general  standard  rates,  which  are  already  covered 
by  paragraph    (iii). 

(vii)   Technical  education   and  training. 

(viii)  Industrial  research  and  the  full  utilization  of  its  re- 
sults. 

(ix)  The  provision  of  facilities  for  the  full  consideration 
and  utilization  of  inventions  and  improvement  designed  by  work- 
people, and  for  the  adequate  safeguarding  of  the  rights  of  the 
designers  of  such  improvements. 

(x)  Improvements  of  processes^  machinery  and  organization 
and  appropriate  questions  relating  to  management  and  the  ex- 
amination of  industrial  experiments,  with  special  reference  to 
cooperation  in  caiTying  new  ideas  into  effect  and  full  considera- 
tion of  the  workpeople's  point  of  view  in  relation  to  them. 

(xi)   Proposed  legislation  affecting  the  industry'. 

17.  The  methods  by  which  the  functions  of  the  proposed  Councils 
should  be  correlated  to  those  of  joint  bodies  in  the  different  districts, 


APPENDIX  G  307 

and  in  the  various  works  within  the  districts,  must  necessarily  vary 
according  to  the  trade.  It  may,  therefore,  be  the  best  policy  to 
leave  it  to  the  trades  themselves  to  formulate  schemes  suitable  to 
their  special  circumstances,  it  being  vmderstood  that  it  is  essential 
to  secure  in  each  industrj^  the  fullest  measure  of  cooperation  be- 
tween employers  and  employed,  both  generally,  through  the  National 
Councils,  and  specifically,  through  district  Committees  and  work- 
shop Committees : 

18.  It  would  seem  advisable  that  the  Government  should  put  the 
proposals  relating  to  National  Industrial  Councils  before  the  em- 
ployers' and  workpeople's  associations  and  request  them  to  adopt 
such  measures  as  are  needful  for  their  establishment  where  they  do 
not  alread}'^  exist.  Suitable  steps  should  also  be  taken,  at  the  proper 
time,  to  put  the  matter  before  the  general  public. 

19.  In  forwarding  the  proposals  to  the  parties  concerned,  we 
think  thf  Government  should  offer  to  be  represented  in  an  advisory 
capacity  at  the  preliminary  meetings  of  a  Council,  if  the  parties  so 
desire.  We  are  also  of  opinion  that  the  Government  should  under- 
take to  supply  to  the  various  Councils  such  information  on  in- 
dustrial subjects  as  may  be  available  and  likely  to  prove  of  value. 

20.  It  has  been  suggested  that  means  must  be  devised  to  safe- 
guard the  interests  of  the  community  against  possible  action  of  an 
anti-social  character  on  the  part  of  the  Councils.  We  have,  how- 
ever, here  assumed  that  the  Councils,  in  their  work  of  promoting 
the  interests  of  their  own  industries,  will  have  regard  for  the  Na- 
tional interest.  If  they  fulfil  their  functions  they  will  be  the  best 
builders  of  national  prosperity.  The  State  never  parts  with  its 
inherent  over-riding  power,  but  such  power  may  be  least  needed 
when  least  obtruded. 

21.  It  appears  to  us  that  it  may  be  desirable  at  some  later  stage 
for  the  State  to  give  the  sanction  of  law  to  agreements  made  by  the 
Councils,  but  the  initiative  in  this  direction  should  come  from  the 
Councils   themselves. 

22.  The  plans  sketched  in  the  foregoing  paragraphs  are  applicable 
in  the  form  in  which  they  are  given  only  to  industries  in  which 
there  are  responsible  associations  of  emploj'ers  and  workpeople 
which  can  claim  to  be  fairly  representative.  The  case  of  the  less 
well-organized  trades  or  sections  of  a  trade  necessarily  needs  further 
consideration.  We  hope  to  be  in  a  position  shortly  to  put  forward 
recommendations  that  will  prepare  the  way  for  the  active  utilization 
in  these  trades  of  the  same  practical  cooperation  as  is  foreshadowed 
in  i^roposals  made  above  for  the  more  highly-organized  trades. 

23.  It  may  be  desirable  to  state  here  our  considered  opinion  that 


'M)H  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

an  ("sscntial  condition  of  securing  a  pcmiancnt  improvement  in  the 
rclalioiiH  lu'twccn  employer.s  and  employed  is  that  there  should  be 
adequate  organization  on  tlie  part  oi'  both  employers  and  work- 
people. The  proposals  outlined  for  joint  cooperation  throughout 
the  several  industries  depend  for  their  ultimate  success  upon  there 
being  such  organization  on  both  sides;  and  such  organization  is 
necessary  also  to  provide  means  whereby  the  arrangements  and 
agreements  made  for  the  industry  may  be  effectively  carried  out. 

24.  We  have  thought  it  well  to  refrain  from  making  suggestions 
or  otiering  opinions  with  regard  to  such  matters  as  profit-sharing, 
co-partnership,  or  particular  systems  of  wages,  etc.  It  would  be 
impracticable  for  us  to  make  any  useful  general  recommendations 
on  such  matters,  having  regard  to  the  varying  conditions  in  different 
trades.  We  are  convinced,  moreover,  that  a  permanent  improve- 
ment in  the  relations  between  employers  and  employed  must  be 
founded  upon  something  other  than  a  cash  basis.  What  is  wanted 
is  that  the  workpeople  should  have  a  greater  opportunity  of  par- 
ticipating in  the  discussion  about  and  adjustment  of  those  parts  of 
industry  by  which  they  are  most  affected. 

25.  The  schemes  recommended  in  this  Report  are  intended  not 
merely  for  the  treatment  of  industrial  problems  when  they  have  be- 
come acute,  but  also,  and  more  especially,  to  prevent  their  becom- 
ing acute.  We  believe  that  regular  meetings  to  discuss  industrial 
questions,  apart  from  and  prior  to  any  differences  with  regard  to 
them  that  may  have  begun  to  cause  friction,  will  materially  reduce 
the  number  of  occasions  on  which,  in  the  view  of  either  employers 
or  employed,  it  is  necessary  to  contemplate  recourse  to  a  stoppage 
of  work. 

26.  We  venture  to  hope  that  representative  men  in  each  industry', 
with  pride  in  their  calling  and  care  for  its  place  as  a  contributor 
to  the  national  well-being,  will  come  together  in  the  manner  here 
suggested,  and  apply  themselves  to  promoting  industrial  harmony 
and  efficiency  and  removing  the  obstacles  that  have  hitherto  stood 
in  the  way. 

We  have  the  honor  to  be.  Sir, 
Your  obedient  Servants, 

J.  H.  Whitley,  Chairman. 

F.  S.  Button. 
Geo.  J.  Carter. 
S.  J.  Chapman. 

G.  H.  Claughton. 
J.  R.  Clynes. 

J.  A.  HOBSON. 


8th  March,  1917. 


APPENDIX  G  309 

A.  Susan  Lawrence. 

J.  J.  Mallon. 

Thos.  R.  Ratcliffe-Ellis. 

RoBT.  Smillie. 

Allan  M.  Smith. 

Mona  Wilson. 

H.  J.  Wilson, 
Aethur  Greenwood, 

Secretaries. 


APPENDIX 


The  following  questions  were  addressed  by  the  Reconstruction 
Committee  to  the  Sub-Committee  on  the  Relations  between  Employ- 
ers and  Employed  in  order  to  make  clear  certain  points  which  ap- 
peared to  call  for  further  elucidation.  The  answers  given  are  sub- 
joined. 

Q.  1.  In  what  class  of  Industries  does  the  Interim  Report  pro- 
pose that  Industrial  Councils  shall  he  established?  What  basis  of 
classification  has  the  Sub-Committee  in  viewf 

A.  1.  It  has  been  suggested  that,  for  the  purpose  of  considering 
the  establishment  of  Industrial  Councils,  or  other  bodies  designed  to 
assist  in  the  improvement  of  relations  between  employers  and  em- 
ployed, the  various  industries  should  be  grouped  into  three  classes — 
(a)  industries  in  which  organization  on  the  part  of  employers  and 
employed  is  sufficiently  developed  to  render  the  Councils  representa- 
tive; (&)  industries  in  which  either  as  regards  employers  and  em- 
ployed, or  both,  the  degree  of  organization,  though  considerable,  is 
less  marked  than  in  (a)  and  is  insuflBcient  to  be  regarded  as  repre- 
sentative; and  (c)  industries  in  which  organization  is  so  imperfect, 
either  as  regards  employers  or  employed,  or  both,  that  no  Associa- 
tions can  be  said  adequately  to  represent  those  engaged  in  the  trade. 

It  will  be  clear  that  an  analysis  of  industries  will  show  a  number 
which  are  on  the  border  lines  between  these  groups,  and  special  con- 
sideration w^ill  have  to  be  given  to  such  trades.  So  far  as  groups 
(a)  and  (c)  are  concerned,  a  fairly  large  number  of  trades  can 
readily  be  assigned  to  them;  group  (b)  is  necessarily  more  inde- 
terminate. 

For  trades  in  group  (a)  the  Committee  have  proposed  the  es- 
tablishment of  Joint  Standing  Industrial  Councils  in  the  several 
trades.     In  dealing  with  the  various  industries  it  may  be  necessary 


310  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

lo  consider  spofially  the  case  of  parts  of  industries  in  groap    («) 
where  or^^anizatioii  is  not  fully  developed. 

Q.  2.  Is  the  machhierii  proposed  hilended  lo  be  in  addition  to  or 
in  substitution  for  existing  machinery?  Is  it  proposed  that  exist- 
ing machinerj/  should  be  superseded?  By  "existing  machinery"  is 
meant  Conciliation  Boards  and  all  other  organizations  for  joint 
conference  and  discussion  between  Employers  and  Employed. 

A.  2.  In  most  organized  trades  there  already  exist  joint  bodies 
for  particular  purposes.  It  is  not  proposed  that  the  Industrial 
Councils  should  necessarily  disturb  these  existing  bodies.  A  coun- 
cil would  be  free,  if  it  chose  and  if  the  bodies  concerned  approved, 
to  merge  existing  Committees,  etc.,  in  the  Council  or  to  link  them 
with  the  Council  as  Sub-Committees. 

Q.  3.  Is  it  understood  that  membership  of  the  Councils  is  to  be 
confined  to  representatives  elected  by  Employers'  Associations  and 
Trade  Unions?  What  is  the  view  of  the  Sub-Committee  regarding 
the  entry  of  new  organizations  established  after  the  Councils  have 
been  set  upf 

A.  3.  It  is  intended  that  the  Councils  should  be  composed  only 
of  representatives  of  Trade  Unions  and  Employers'  Associations, 
and  that  new  organizations  should  be  admitted  only  with  the  ap- 
proval of  the  particular  side  of  the  Council  of  which  the  organiza- 
tion would  foi-m  a  part. 

Q.  4.  (a) — 7s  it  intended  that  decisions  reached  by  the  Councils 
shall  be  binding  upon  the  bodies  comprising  them?  If  so,  is  such 
binding  effect  to  be  conditional  upon  the  consent  of  each  Employers' 
Association  or  Trade  Union  affected? 

A.  4:.  (a)  It  is  contemplated  that  agreements  reached  by  Indus- 
trial Councils  should  (whilst  not,  of  course,  possessing  the  binding 
force  of  law)  carry  with  them  the  same  obligation  of  observance  as 
exists  in  the  case  of  other  agreements  between  Emploj'ers'  Associa- 
tions and  Trade  Unions.  A  Council,  being  on  its  workmen's  side 
based  on  the  Trade  Unions  ooncemed  in  the  industry,  its  powers 
or  authority  could  only  be  such  as  the  constituent  Trade  Unions 
freely  agreed  to. 

Q.  4:.  (b)  In  particular,  is  it  intended  that  all  pledges  given  either 
by  the  Government  or  employers  for  tlie  restoration  of  Trade  Union 
rules  and  practices  after  the  war  shall  be  redeemed  without  quali- 
fication unless  the  particular  Trade  Union  concerned  agrees  to  al- 
teration; or,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  Industrial  Council  shall  have 
power  to  decide  such  question  by  a  majority  vote  of  the  workmen's 
representatives  from  all  the  Trade  Unions  in  the  industry? 

A.  4.   (b)   It  is  clearly  intended  that  all  pledges  relating  to  the 


APPENDIX  G  311 

restoration  of  Trade  Union  rules  shall  be  redeemed  without  quali- 
fication unless  the  particular  Trade  Union  concerned  agrees  to  al- 
teration ;  and  it  is  not  intended  that  the  Council  shall  have  power  to 
decide  such  questions  by  a  majority  vote  of  the  workmen's  repre- 
sentatives from  all  the  Trade  Unions  in  the  industry. 


INDUSTRIAL   REPORTS.      NUMBER   2. 

WORKS  COMMITTEES 

REPORT   OP   AN    ENQUIRY   MADE   BY    THE   MINISTRY   OF   LABOR 
PREFACE 

Owing  to  the  great  changes  in  industry  which  the  war  has  pro- 
duced, particularly  in  engineering,  the  need  for  closer  relations  be- 
tween employer  and  workmen  has  become  increasingly  felt.  The 
old  trade  union  machinery  has  often  been  overburdened  and  has 
not  always  sufficed  to  deal  with  the  innumerable  questions  arising 
from  day  to  day  in  the  shops.  These  conditions  have  encouraged 
the  growth  of  Works  Committees  as  a  means  of  direct  and  constant 
communication  between  employer  and  workmen,  and  as  the  forma- 
tion of  such  Committees  in  industries  where  the  conditions  require 
or  favor  them  has  been  recommended  by  the  Whitley  Committee  as 
part  of  the  industrial  organization  of  the  future,  it  was  thought 
that  it  would  be  useful  to  collect  particulars  of  existing  Works 
Committees  and  to  publish  them  for  the  information  of  those  wlio 
might  be  interested  in  the  matter. 

The  following  report  is  based  on  an  inquiry  made  by  members 
of  the  Department  as  to  the  constitution  and  working  of  Works 
Committees  in  a  number  of  different  industries,  including  Engi- 
neering, Shipbuilding,  Iron  and  Steel,  Boot  and  Shoe,  Mining, 
Printing,  Woolen  and  Worsted,  Pottery,  and  Furniture.  Tlie  en- 
quiry did  not  aim  at  being  exhaustive,  but  an  attempt  was  made 
to  examine  carefully  typical  committees  in  the  chief  industries  where 
they  were  known  to  exist,  with  a  view  to  bringing  out  the  different 
objects,  functions,  methods  of  procedure,  and  constitutions  which 
have  been  tried  in  actual  practice.  The  opinions  of  those  interested 
in  the  Committees,  on  the  side  both  of  the  management  and  of 
the  workmen,  have  been  sought,  and  the  sincere  thanks  of  the  De- 
partment are  due  to  Directors,  Managers,  Trade  Union  officials, 
Shop  Stewards,  and  others  for  their  courtesy  and  the  trouble  they 


;3ia  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

have  ttiken  to  lielp  the  enquiry  at  a  time  when  all  were  burdened  by 
the  extra  duties  iiuposed  on  tliein  by  the  war.  Our  special  thanks 
are  also  due  to  tlie  Ministry  of  Munitions  of  War  and  tlie  Admiralty 
Shipyard  Labor  Dej)artinent,  and  to  tliose  individuals,  firms,  Com- 
mittees and  Associations  who  have  given  permission  for  the  publica- 
tion of  the  particulars  of  Works  Committees  which  appear  in  the 
Appendices. 

No  attempt  has  been  made  to  draw  any  general  conclusions  or 
to  sketcli  any  ideal  form  of  Works  Committee.  The  object  aimed 
at  has  been  to  present  the  facts  as  accurately  as  possible,  to  point 
out  the  various  diHicullies  which  have  been  encountered  and  the 
various  methods  wliich  have  been  devised  to  meet  tliem.  In  this  way 
it  was  hoped  that  this  Report  might  be  of  some  value  as  furnish- 
ing guidance  and  suggestions  to  those  who  are  concerned  with 
working  out  the  problem  of  Works  Committees  for  their  own  indus- 
try or  their  own  establishment. 

Since  this  volume  was  prepared,  the  Whitley  Committee  have  is- 
sued their  Third  Report  which  deals  with  Works  Committees  and 
which  recommends  the  collection  of  information  regarding  exist- 
ing Works  Committees. 

D.  J.  Shackleton. 

Ministry  of  Labor. 
March,  1918. 


WORKS  COMMITTEES 

I. — INTRODUCTION 

The  extent  of  the  existence  of  Works  Committees  before  the  "war 
is  largely  a  matter  of  definition.  Our  estimate  of  their  scope  will 
vary  according  as  we  give  the  term  a  wide  interpretation,  or  confine 
it  to  committees  representative  of  all  the  workpeople  in  an  es- 
tablishment. Works  Committees  in  this  latter  sense  of  the  term 
existed  before  the  war  in  various  industries,  and  in  some  instances 
they  had  been  in  existence  for  many  years.  If  the  term  is  in- 
terpreted in  a  wide  sense,  and  taken  to  include  various  kinds  of 
committees,  such  as  those  representative  of  individual  trades  or 
departments,  or  those  which  have  come  into  existence  at  particular 
times  and  for  limited  purposes,  the  number  in  existence  before  the 
war  is  greatly  increased.  In  certain  industries,  however,  notably 
engineering,  the  conditions  of  war  have  produced  such  a  change  in 
both  the  form  and  function  of  workshop  organization,  that  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  general  idea  of  Works  Committees  mav  be  said  to 


APPENDIX  G  313 

have  developed  out  of  those  conditions.  Since,  however,  the  Works 
Committee,  on  the  whole,  springs  from  the  common  methods  of 
trade  union  organization  inside  the  workshop,  as  they  existed  long 
before  the  beginning  of  the  war,  some  reference  to  these  methods 
is  necessary  as  an  introduction  to  this  report  upon  some  of  the  com- 
mittees which  are  now  in  operation. 

Before  this  works  organization  is  considered,  it  may  be  noted 
that  certain  of  the  immediate  causes  which  have  led  to  the  rise  of 
works  committees  during  the  war — the  methods  of  remuneration 
(piecework  or  profit-sharing  or  bonus  on  output),  welfare,  collec- 
tions for  charity,  and,  to  some  extent,  dilution  also — were  already 
operative  in  the  formation  of  earlier  Works  Committees. 

Works  Committees  before  the  War. 

The  majority  of  Trade  Unions  have  official  shop  stewards,  though 
these  officials  may  be  known  by  some  other  name — such  as  "shop 
delegates,"  "works  representatives,"  "collectors,"  "yard  committee- 
men," or,  in  one  case  at  least,  "works  directors."  In  certain  cases 
also  the  name  committee — Watch  or  Vigilant  Committee — is  at- 
tached to  the  body  of  shop  stewards  in  an  establishment.  It  may 
even  be  said  that  the  Works  Committee  is  older  than  trade  union- 
ism; the  "chapel,"  for  instance  (the  ancient  organization  of  the 
workmen  in  each  printing  office),  goes  back  much  farther  than  the 
end  of  the  17th  century.  Such  shop  clubs  were  not  confined  to  any 
one  industry.  They  were,  however,  quite  different  things  from  a 
works  organization  formed  of  representatives  of  permanent  Trade 
Unions,  and  would  now  be  represented  by  a  committee  of  workers 
in  a  non-Union  shop.  To-day  the  duties  of  the  "chapel,"  as  laid 
down  in  the  rules  of  various  unions  in  the  industry,  include  those 
discharged  by  shop  stewards  in  many  other  trades.  Apart  from 
(1)  functions  obviously  intended  to  sustain  the  fabric  of  the  Trade 
Union — the  collection  of  dues,  the  interrogation  of  defaulters  and 
newcomers,  and  the  like — the  duties  of  shop  stewards  are  stated  in 
the  rules  of  different  Unions  to  include  (2)  the  regular  supply  to 
the  branch  or  district  committee  of  information  respecting  any 
encroachment  upon  recognized  Trade  Union  conditions,  participa- 
tion in  deputations  to  the  management  in  connection  with  griev- 
ances,!   the   calling   of   shop   meetings   of   the   members   to   discuss 

1  Participation  in  deputations  to  the  management  has  naturally 
tended  to  the  formation  of  committees.  This  may  have  happened  when 
representatives  of  different  trades  joined  together  to  present  common 
grievances;  the  management  may  again  have  suggested  the  formation 
of  a  committee  as  an  alternative  to  a  number  of  sectional  deputations. 


314  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

grievances,  etc.  Tlie  stewards  are  in  one  case  held  "responsible  for 
the  conduct  of  the  shop  according  to  iniles."  The  actual  degree  of 
organization  of  the  shop  stewards  varies  among  the  Trade  Unions. 
In  some  cases  all  the  shop  stewards  of  a  Union  in  a  district  hold 
regular  meetings  once  a  month  with  the  district  committee  of  the 
Union.  Certain  Unions  supply  their  shop  stewards  with  official 
cards.  In  other  cjises,  however,  there  is  no  regular  machinery  for 
consultation  between  the  shop  stewards  and  the  Union  officials,  and 
no  certificates  of  official  recognition  are  supplied  to  the  shop 
stewards.  There  is  variety  also  in  regard  to  the  election  and  the 
deposition  of  shop  stewards;  some  hold  office  for  a  definite  period, 
while  others  may  be  deposed  at  any  time.  Most  commonly  the 
election  is  made  in  the  department  by  the  men  of  the  Union,  though 
there  are  cases  in  which  appointment  to  the  office  is  made  by  Trade 
Union  branches. 

(1)  In  regard  to  the  first-mentioned  duties  of  shop  stewards — the 
collection  of  subscriptions  and  the  examination  of  credentials  of 
membership — two  facts  may  be  noted.  The  first  is  that  such  meth- 
ods of  organization  are  not  confined  to  workers  whose  daily  work  is 
done  in  a  fixed  establishment,  but  are  also  used  on  certain  forms  of 
more  or  less  migratory  work,  such  as  building  construction.  The 
"ticket"  steward  commonly  examines  new  men  taken  into  employ- 
ment on  a  building  job.  The  second  fact  to  be  noted  is  that  in 
certain  industries,  in  a  number  of  areas,  a  regular  system  of  Works 
Committees,  linked  together  in  district  organizations,  had  developed 
several  years  before  the  war  for  the  purpose  of  the  more  efficient 
achievement  of  these  objects. 

(2)  But  both  in  theory  and  in  practice  the  work  of  shop  stew- 
ards— or  of  committees  of  shop  stewards — has  generally  extended 
beyond  these  functions.  As  an  example  of  practice,  the  apparently 
unsuitable  case  of  building  work  may  first  be  taken.  Committees — 
somewhat  loosely  organized  it  may  be,  but  nevertheless  committees, 
and  so  considered  by  those  responsible  for  their  formation — have 
been  formed  in  the  building  trade;  and  the  scope  of  these  commit- 
tees has  embraced  the  second  and  wider  class  of  duties  mentioned 
above.     It  has  for  years  been  common  in  certain  districts  for  the 

The  appointment  of  deputations  of  workpeople  to  meet  the  management 
is,  of  course,  not  confined  to  trade  unionist  workmen;  it  has  always 
been  a  feature  of  modern  industry  in  both  organized  and  unorganized 
establishments.  In  organized  establishments,  however,  there  has  always 
been  a  tendency  for  the  shop  stewards  to  be  represented  on  such  depu- 
tations. 


APPENDIX  G  315 

"ticket"  stewards  on  a  big  building  job  to  come  together,  and  to 
elect  a  secretary,  who  in  some  cases  (it  may  be  noted)  has  been  a 
representative  of  the  laborers.  Such  a  committee  of  stewards  may 
make  representations  to,  or  be  consulted  by,  the  employer  on  ques- 
tions such  as  the  proper  allocation  of  work  in  order  that  sufficient 
inside  operations  may  be  reserved  for  wet  weather.  Another  ques- 
tion wliich  such  committees  have  been  known  to  bring  forward  is 
that  of  extra  payment  in  consequence  of  the  inconvenient  situation 
of  some  particular  job.  (This,  perhaps,  is  strictly  Trade  Union 
business.)  In  demanding  adequate  provision  for  the  heating  of 
tea  cans  and  for  the  enjoyment  of  meals  such  committees  may  be 
said  to  have  anticipated  in  their  own  way  the  modem  Welfare 
Committee.  In  many  industries  the  same  combination  of  shop 
stewards  and  the  same  practice  of  making  united  representations 
to  the  employer — a  practice  not  necessarily  "recognized" — have  been 
attempted  at  different  times  and  with  varjdng  degrees  of  success. 
In  some  cases  in  which  such  methods  have  been  successfully  applied 
in  engineering  and  shipbuilding  the  initiative  has  come  from  the 
side  of  the  management.  It  remains  true,  of  course,  that  the  shop 
steward  system  up  to  the  present  has  been  in  the  main  only  a  trade 
system,  and  that  the  committees  formed  under  it  can  be  classed 
under  Works  Committees  only  if  the  term  is  given  the  wide  scope 
mentioned  at  the  beginning  of  this  report.  If  the  term  is  used  in 
this  wider  sense,  committees  will  be  found  to  have  existed  for  many 
years  in  a  number  of  industries  where  piecework  is  in  operation. 
Some  of  these  are  dealt  with  in  a  later  paragraph. 

Another  of  the  functions  of  shop  stewards — the  calling  of  shop 
meetings — appears  to  form  the  basis  of  a  system  of  Works  Com- 
mittees in  certain  industries,  which  include,  at  any  rate  in  some 
districts,  the  furnishing  trades.  The  shop  meeting,  for  which  the 
rules  of  most  Trade  Unions  make  provision,  is  a  meeting  of  the 
members  of  a  Union;  but  the  term  has  another  meaning  which  has 
gained  currency  during  the  war — viz.,  a  meeting  of  all  the  trades 
in  a  works — and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that,  in  part,  at  least,  of 
the  furnishing  industry,  this  has  long  been  the  recognized  meaning. 
Here  the  meetings  are  regular  (monthly),  and  the  stewards,  not 
necessarily  drawn  from  all  the  trades,  make  their  report  about  mem- 
bership and  the  like.  The  shop  stewards  in  a  furnishing  works 
may  in  this  way  form  a  Works  Committee  with  a  secretary.  At  the 
same  time  it  would  appear  that  for  the  settlement  of  piece  prices 
certain  Unions  in  the  furnishing  trades,  such  as  that  of  the  up- 
holsterers, work  through  their  own  shop  stewards.! 

1  The  position  in  the  furnishing  trade  is  somewhat  indefinite.     Some 


316  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Committees  for  the  arrangement  of  piece  prices,  wliiclj  are  found 
in  a  great  variety  of  industries,  are  convenient  examples  of  (a) 
trade  or  departmental  organization  as  contrasted  with  works  or- 
ganization; and  (6)  the  informal  nature  and  composition  of  many 
committees.  In  regard  to  (a),  the  method  of  the  upholsterers  has 
already  been  mentioned.  Usually  there  are  only  a  small  number  of 
upholsterers  in  any  one  estahlishment ;  fifteen  would  mean  a  very 
considerable  firm.  In  smaller  establisliments  the  shop  steward  or 
stewards  of  the  Union  usually  carry  through  the  negotiations  for  any 
new  work  not  covered  by  the  shop  "log,"  or  list  of  piece  prices.  If 
they  are  unsuccessful,  the  full-time  Trade  Union  official  comes  into 
the  bargaining  operations.  In  one  establishment,  however,  in  which 
an  exceptionally  large  number  of  upholsterers  are  employed  in 
several  departments  or  "floors,"  the  Departmental  or  Trade  Com- 
mittee has  been  in  existence  for  many  years.  This  is  composed  of 
all  the  stewards — three  elected  from  each  of  the  "floors" — and  from 
this  committee  again  three  head  stewards  are  chosen.  For  the  par- 
ticular work  of  any  floor  the  appropriate  stewards  undertake  the 
preliminary  negotiations;  but  if  these  are  unsuccessful,  the  ques- 
tion in  dispute  will  come  before  the  committee,  and  be  dealt  with 
by  the  head  stewards  in  consultation  with  the  management  before 
it  is — probably  with  the  assent  of  a  shop  meeting — given  into  the 
hands  of  the  Trade  Union  official.  The  pottery  industry  supplies 
examples  of  both  (a)  and  (6).  Pricing  Committees  are  found  in 
most  sections  of  the  trade;  and  there  may  be  several  committees  in 
a  single  factory.  In  the  sanitary  trade  a  standing  committee  is 
usual.  In  many  factories,  however,  the  method  employed  is  for 
the  operative  concerned  to  call  in  two  or  three  mates  to  assist  him 
in  arranging  the  price  of  a  new  job.  The  men  called  in  need  not 
be  the  same  on  each  occasion.  The  existence  of  several  committees 
in  one  factory  may  be  exemplified  by  an  establishment  in  the  Jet  and 
Rockingham  bi'anch  of  the  industry,  in  which  there  have  been  for 
many  years  Pricing  Committees  for  jiggerers  (makers),  turners 
and  handlers.     In  this  case  none  but  Trade  Unionists  can  sit  on  the 

ye.irs  ago  there  would  appear  to  have  been  Joint  Committees  of  employ- 
ers and  employees  in  several  districts,  but  these  have  disappeared.  A 
system  of  Departmental  Committees  for  the  fixing  of  rates  for  sub- 
normal workers  is  still  in  operation  in  certain  districts,  and  was  more 
common  until  quite  recently,  when  piecework  was  abolished  in  some 
areas.  In  a  few  establishments  these  committees  appear  to  have  been 
Works  and  not  Departmental  Committees.  These  committees  are  ad 
hoc  bodies,  called  into  being  for  a  particular  purpose  by  the  shop 
steward    (or  stewards)   who  form  the  element  of  continuity. 


APPENDIX  G  317 

committee;  but  this  is  by  no  means  a  universal  rule.  In  works, 
however,  in  which  there  are  Trade  Unionists  the  practice  is  to  elect 
to  the  committee  one  (or  more)  of  them,  who  is  expected  to  serve 
as  a  connecting  link  between  the  committee  and  the  District  Com- 
mittee of  the  Trade  Union. 

The  position  of  the  "chapel"  in  relation  to  the  London  com- 
positors' scale  is  an  old  and  well-established  case  of  a  works  organi- 
zation taking  part  among  other  functions  in  the  regulation  of  piece- 
work. 

In  other  trades  in  which  piecework  is  in  operation,  and  where 
complete  standardization  of  lists  has  been  found  impracticable,  meth- 
ods more  or  less  similar  to  those  mentioned  above  are  found.  In 
this  connection  the  development  of  Works  Committees  in  engineer- 
ing establishments  during  the  war  is  significant.  The  engineering 
trades  have  always  resisted  piecework;  but,  at  the  same  time,  they 
have  generally  bargained  on  an  individual  basis  for  any  work 
done  on  this  system.  The  extension  of  piecework  and  the  growth 
of  the  method  of  collective  bargaining  in  the  shop — by  Works  Com- 
mittees or  stewards — have  gone  on  side  by  side;  and  it  would 
appear  that,  to  a  considerable  degree,  the  one  is  the  immediate 
cause  of  the  other.  Even  in  industries  in  which  price  lists  for 
piecework  are  used  there  are  commonly  occasions  on  which  a  par- 
ticular job  is  not  covered  by  the  list,  and  in  certain  cases  jobs  can- 
not be  listed  at  all.  In  this  connection  it  may  be  noted  that  in 
mining  the  method  of  joint  pit  committees — as  well  as  the  Joint 
District  Board — has  been  in  operation  in  certain  districts  for  a 
long  time,  and  the  method  is  embodied  in  the  rules  of  various  dis- 
tricts under  the  Coal  Mines  (Minimum  Wage)  Act  of  1912.  In 
several  districts  disputes  as  to  whether  a  workman  has  forfeited 
his  right  to  the  minimum  must  be  discussed  by  two  officials  of  the 
mine  and  two  representatives  of  the  local  lodge  of  the  Union  before 
they  are  taken  to  the  district  Joint  Board  committee,  and  in  one 
district  the  representatives  from  each  side  are  four  in  number. 

The  fact  that  in  many  mining  districts  the  Trade  Union  branch — 
or  lodge — is  composed  only  of  the  men  working  in  one  pit  makes 
the  Lodge  Committee  in  effect  a  Pit  Committee. ^  It  is  not  a  com- 
plete Works  Committee — in  the  stricter  sense  of  the  term — except 
in  those  places  in  which  the  enginemen  and  certain  other  workers, 
who  commonly  belong  to  other  Unions,  are  members  of  the  local 

1  Even  where  the  basis  of  the  miners'  branch  is  not  the  pit  but,  say, 
the  village,  each  of  the  several  pits  in  the  village  commonly  has  its  com- 
mittee. 


iilH  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Miners*  association.  The  tendency  of  certain  otiier  Unions — e.  y., 
those  in  the  iron  and  steel  industry — to  organize  on  the  basis  of 
the  works  is  interesting  from  the  same  standpoint.  ^ 

It  may  be  noted  that  in  many  cases  Conciliation  Boards  are  really 
Works  Committees.  This  is  so  when  the  joint  board  is  composed 
of  representatives  of  the  workpeople  in  one  e.stablishment  and  of 
members  of  the  firm.  Such  boards — with  varying  degrees  of  con- 
nection between  the  workmen's  side  and  the  Trade  Unions — have 
been  formed  in  individual  establishments  belonging  to  a  variety  of 
industries. 

Nomenclature. 

A  distinction  must  be  drawn  between  ''Works  Committees"  and 
"Shop  Committees."  The  former  cover  the  whole  of  a  works  (or 
even,  in  some  eases,  the  whole  of  two  or  three  contiguous  works) ; 
the  latter  cover  a  particular  department  or  sliop  in  a  works.  Among 
Works  Committees  it  is  possible  to  distinguish  three  varieties.  The 
lirst  and  main  variety  may  be  called  the  "Industrial  Committee." 
Such  a  committee,  generally  constituted  on  a  Trade  Union  basis, 
deals  with  particular  questions  affecting  the  conditions  and  re- 
muneration of  labor  in  a  given  works — questions  of  principle  being 
reserved  for  the  district  or  national  organizations  concerned.  It  is 
this  variety  which,  being  the  most  important,  is  often  called  by  the 
general  name  of  Works  Committee.  A  second  variety  may  be  called 
the  "Welfare  Committee."  Such  a  committee,  representing  as  a 
rule  all  the  workers  in  a  given  works,  deals  with  what  may  be  termed 
works  amenities — ventilation,  sanitation,  and  the  like.  A  third  va- 
riety, which  may  be  merged  with  the  second,  or  may  be  distinct,  is 
the  "Social  Union,"  or,  more  exactly,  the  committee  governing  the 
Social  Union,  where  one  exists,  of  the  workers  employed  in  the 
same  establishment.  Such  a  committee  is  concerned  with  games, 
recreations,  study-circles,  picnics  and  the  like. 

Apart  from  these  main  types  there  are,  of  course,  local  varieties 
of  all  sorts.  There  may  be,  for  instance,  a  separate  "Mess-room 
Committee";  or,  again,  there  may  be  a  separate  "Women's  Com- 
mittee." There  may  be  a  committee  peculiar  to  a  small  section  of 
workers  {e.g.,  tool-makers),  which  handles  a  large  and  important 
area  of  functions  in  regard  to  those  workers.  Finally,  even  though 
there  is  no  regular  or  standing  Works  Committees,  it  may  be  the 

1  It  may  be  noted  that  the  circumstances  of  industry  in  general  in  the 
18th  and  early  lOth  century  made  for  a  greater  correspondence  between 
organization  by  locality  and  organization  by  establishment  than  exists 
today. 


APPENDIX  G  319 

case  that  committees  are  created  ad  hoc  whenever  an  important 
question  arises  in  a  works,  and  that  these  committees  are  consulted 
by  the  management  with  a  view  to  settling  such  questions.  This 
indeed  is  the  procedure  followed  in  some  of  the  works  where  the  re- 
lations of  management  and  men  are  most  amicable.  In  some  cases 
the  committee  so  formed  consists  of  the  shop  stewards  of  the  separ- 
ate trades. 

It  may  be  added  that  some  committees  are  "joint/'  and  embrace 
representatives  of  both  men  and  management,  meeting  together  in 
regular  session;  while  others  (and  this  is  the  general  rule)  are  com- 
mittees of  workmen  only,  but  meet  the  management  from  time  to 
time  (sometimes  regularly,  and  sometimes  occasionally;  sometimes 
directly,  and  sometimes  tlirough  their  chairman  or  secretary)  to 
settle  grievances  and  to  give  or  receive  information. 

Various  names  have  been  applied  to  committees  formed  during 
the  war,  particularly  to  those  formed  to  deal  with  such  questions 
as  timekeeping.  Among  the  names  are  "Workers'  Advisory  Board," 
"Works'  Tribunal,"  "Vigilant  Committee,"  and  "Works'  Council."  i 

II. ORIGINS    AND    INFLUENCE   OF   WAR   DE\'ELOPMENTS 

The  causes  which  have  brought  Works  Committees  into  existence 
during  the  war,  and  the  circumstances  attending  their  origin,  are 
naturally  very  different.  A  classification  of  origins  may,  however, 
be  attempted  under  the  following  heads: — 

(1)  Shop  stewards. 

(2)  Dilution. 

(3)  Methods  of  remuneration. 

(4)  Timekeeping. 

(5)  Welfare. 

(6)  War  charity. 

(7)  Other  causes. 

Shop  Stewards. 

To  a  very  considerable  extent  the  first  three  headings  must  be 
treated  together.  This  is  particularly  true  of  engineering  works. 
It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  shop  stewards  with  a  con- 
siderable range  of  duties  were  a  normal  feature  of  Trade  Union 
organization  before   the  war.     It  has  also   been   seen   that,  though 

1  "Works  Committee,"  \t>  may  be  noted,  is  sometimes  taken  to  mean 
only  a  Joint  Committee  of  management  and  employees.  The  name  is 
not  used  in  this  narrow  sense  in  this  report.  "Shop  Committee"  is 
sometimes  used  in  the  sense  in  which  "Works  Committee"  is  defined 
above,  i.e.,  for  a  committee  covering  not  merely  a  department  but  the 
whole  of  a  worke. 


320  MANAGEMENT  AND  MExN 

for  the  most  part  these  stewards  acted  only  for  their  own  separate 
organizations,  tliis  was  not  their  only  method  of  operation.  One 
effect  of  the  war  has  been  to  enhance  tlie  position  and  prestige  of 
the  sliop  stewards.  The  loss  of  the  right  to  strike  has  depressed 
the  position  of  Trade  Union  officials,  who  were  thus  deprived  of 
the  chief  weapon  they  controlled  and,  if  they  had  organized  strikes, 
would  have  been  liable  to  prosecution.  Under  these  conditions  the 
shop  stewards,  more  unknown  and  therefore  less  exposed,  began  to 
exercise  more  power.  Nor  was  this  all.  In  an  industry  such  as 
engineering,  questions  of  dilution  and,  again,  of  payment  by  results 
raised  matters  of  detail  which  needed  some  shop  machinery  for 
their  solution.  Such  questions  often  concerned  the  members  of 
several  Unions  in  the  same  establishment;  and  the  common  interest 
of  men  working  side  by  side  often  led  to  concerted  action.  Though 
many  Works  Committees  instituted  during  the  war  can  be  traced 
to  one  or  otlier  of  these  sources,  and  though  most  of  the  committees 
thus  called  into  existence  may  be  said  to  have  worked  to  the  satis- 
faction of  all  grades  of  workpeople,  it  is  true  that  in  certain  cases 
the  question  of  dilution  has  produced  committees  of  shop  stewards 
with  conflicting  interests.  In  certain  places  two  committees  have 
been  formed,  one  composed  of  the  shop  stewards  of  the  skilled 
trades,  and  the  other  confined  to  the  stewards  of  the  Unions  repre- 
senting the  unskilled  and  semi-skilled  men. 

It  may  be  added  that  this  tendency  among  workpeople  to  bring 
their  organization  more  closely  to  bear  upon  workshop  conditions 
is  to  be  seen  in  industries  which  have  been  much  less  affected  by 
the  war  than  engineering.  The  tendency  preceded,  but  has  been 
strengthened  by  the  war. 

Dilution. 

To  gain  the  consent  of  the  National  Unions  was  not  in  itself 
enough  to  settle  the  question  of  dilution;  for  it  is  obvious  that  in 
a  complicated  trade  such  as  engineering,  with  its  many  varieties, 
questions  of  detail  might  arise  in  almost  every  works  which  needed 
some  machinery  for  their  soluf  m.  This  has  led  to  the  introduction 
of  Dilution  Committees  in  many  establishments.  These  committees, 
consisting  of  representatives  of  the  workers  (mainly,  of  course, 
the  skilled  workers),  discuss  with  the  management  on  what  ma- 
chines or  processes,  to  what  extent,  and  under  what  conditions  dilu- 
tion shall  be  introduced.  Committees  of  this  character,  dealing 
with  an  important  range  of  economic  questions,  have  often  been 
led  to  raise  other  questions  than  that  of  dilution,  and  to  bring  for- 
ward for  discussion  with  the  management,  with  which  they  were 


APPENDIX  G  321 

being  brought  into  constant  contact  by  the  problems  of  dilution, 
questions  and  grievances  of  a  general  character.  Sometimes  the 
committee  has  remained  in  name  a  Dilution  Committee,  while  it 
was  in  reality  a  Works  Committee.  Sometimes  a  definite  change 
has  been  made,  and  the  Dilution  Committee,  with  more  or  less 
change  in  its  composition,  has  been  turned  into  a  Works  Commit- 
tee. In  any  case,  the  problem  of  dilution  has  been  one  of  the  most 
potent  forces  in  forwarding  the  movement  towards  Works  Commit- 
tees. Though  there  has  been  a  marked  tendency  for  Dilution  Com- 
mittees to  develop  into  Works  Committees,  it  may  be  noted  that 
in  one  or  two  cases  the  Dilution  Committee  was  formed  after,  and 
as  a  sub-committee  of,  the  Works  Committee. 

The  importance  of  the  connection  between  a  Works  Committee 
and  the  Trade  Unions  is  indicated  by  complaints  that  Dilution 
Committees'  negotiations  have  violated  Trade  Union  agreements. 

Methods  of  Remuneration. 

One  of  the  necessities  of  the  war  has  been  to  increase  output; 
and  one  method  which  suggested  itself  for  this  purpose  was  that  of 
payment  by  results  in  trades  where  timework  was  the  normal  prac- 
tice. In  many  trades  any  system  of  piecework  is  very  unpopular, 
and,  in  the  past,  has  been  strongly  opposed.  This  is  true  of  engi- 
neering, where  the  Unions  had  left  any  piecework  which  was  intro- 
duced to  the  control  of  individual  bargaining.  The  rapid  extension 
of  piecework  in  such  trades  has  led  to  a  variety  of  forms  of  col- 
lective bargaining.  In  some  establishments  a  new  piece-price  is 
submitted  to  the  Works  Committee  before  it  is  discussed  with  the 
individual  workman.  In  others  an  Appeals  Committee  has  been 
instituted  to  consider  and  bring  forward  complaints  against  piece- 
prices  or  premium  bonus  times  fixed  by  the  management.  In  others, 
again,  something  on  the  lines  previously  mentioned  as  existing  in 
parts  of  the  pottery  industry  has  been  developed;  and  prices  have 
been  discussed,  not  with  the  individual  workman,  but  with  the 
workman  and  two  or  three  of  his  mates  on  similar  work.  In  other 
establishments  various  forms  of  collective  or  group  bonus  on  output 
(or  output  value)  have  been  adopted;  and  in  some  of  these  cases 
committees  have  been  formed  either  temporarily,  in  order  to  dis- 
cuss the  introduction  of  the  new  method,  or  permanently,  in  order 
to  supervise  its  working.  In  other  cases  committees  have  been 
formed  to  deal  with  timekeeping  bonuses  or  profit-sharing  schemes.  ^ 

1  A  great  variety  of  bonus  schemes  is  in  operation  in  munitions  fac- 
tories, many  of  which  are  not  understood  by  the  workpeople  concerned. 
It  would  appear  to  be  necessary  that  not  only  should  there  be  a  com- 


322  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Committees  connected  with  nictliod.s  oi'  remuneration  are  not,  in 
tliemselves,  Works  Committees  proper.  They  may  be  committees 
representing  only  a  small  section  of  the  establishment  {e.  y.,  the 
toolmakers),  while  the  rest  of  the  workmen  in  the  establishment 
are  not  concerned  and  are  represented  by  no  committee.  They 
may,  again,  be  partial  in  scope  as  well  as  in  meiiibersliip,  and  deal 
with  no  other  matters  than  tiiat  of  a  bonus.  This,  however,  is  un- 
likely and  seems  unusual.  A  committee  connected  with  a  bonus 
system  often  comes  to  embrace  a  wider  scope,  and  will  bring  forward, 
or  be  consulted  by  the  management  about,  other  matters. 

Timekeeping. 

Committees  whose  sole  function,  or  one  of  whose  main  functions, 
is  the  improvement  of  timekeeping,  have  been  instituted  in  the  coal 
mining  industry,  at  the  ironworks  in  Cleveland  and  Durham,  and  in 
a  number  of  engineering  and  munitions  factories.  The  Pithead, 
or  Output,  or  Absentee,  Committees,  as  they  are  variously  called, 
commonly  deal  with  the  negligence  of  mine  officials  as  well  as  with 
cases  of  absenteeism.  The  committees  at  the  Cleveland  and  Dur- 
ham blast  furnaces  are  confined  to  the  one  function  of  improvement 
of  timekeeping. 

Welfare. 

The  strain  of  the  war  has  introduced  conditions  which  have  made 
it  necessary  to  consider  ways  of  promoting  the  physical  welfare 
of  the  workers.  Long  hours  have  been  worked;  night  shifts  have 
been  added  to  day  shifts;  workshops  have  sometimes  been  crowded; 
the  introduction  of  women  workers  by  the  side  of  men,  in  occu- 
pations where  women  had  not  previously  been  employed,  has  raised 
a  number  of  questions.  Matters  such  as  the  best  distribution  of 
working  hours,  the  provision  of  canteens  and  mess-rooms,  and  the 
improvement  of  ventilation  and  sanitation,  have  all  demanded  at- 
tention. On  such  matters,  where  the  interest  of  the  workers  is 
paramount,  the  simplest  course  is  obviously  to  consult  them,  and  to 
receive  their  complaints  and  suggestions  through  their  own  ac- 
credited representatives.  This  course  has  been  adopted  in  a  number 
of  establishments;  and  the  result  has  been  the  institution  of  a  Wel- 
fare Committee,  which  has  eased  the  situation  by  removing,  or  pre- 
venting the  rise  of,  a  number  of  grievances.     The  workmen  have 

mittee  to  supervise  such  schemes,  but  that  a  "Particulars  Clause"  should 
be  made  obligatory  on  the  employer.  Arbitration  awards  have  in  indi- 
vidual cases  made  one  or  both  of  these  methods  of  control  part  of  their 
findings. 


APPENDIX  G  323 

thus  been  allowed  a  voice  in  regard  to  the  conditions  under  which 
they  labor,  and  these  Welfare  Committees,  though  they  can  hardly 
be  called  Works  Committees,  may  be  said  to  prepare  the  ground. 
They  serve  to  engender  something  of  a  spirit  of  community  in  the 
works,  and  to  help  the  workmen  to  feel  that  they  have  a  common 
interest  as  workers  in  the  same  establishment. 

War  Charity. 

In  several  '^ases  (for  instance  in  the  Glasgow  district)  commit- 
tees have  been  formed  to  administer  funds  raised  in  the  works  for 
the  purpose  of  Helping  dependents  of  workmen  who  have  joined  the 
Colors.  These  committees  form  a  germ  which  may  develop,  and 
here  and  there  has  developed,  into  Works  Committees  capable  of 
entertaining  grievances  or  raising  general  questions  and  bringing 
them  to  the  notice  of  the  management.  Where  the  firm  has  sub- 
scribed to  the  works'  fund,  and  has  been  represented  on  the  Com- 
mittee of  Management,  the  nucleus  of  a  Joint  Committee  is  ob- 
viously present. 

Other  Causes. 

In  much  the  same  way  committees  formed  in  an  establishment 
for  social  purposes  prepare  the  ground,  if  they  do  nothing  more, 
for  the  institution  of  Works  Committees.  They  help  to  create  the 
habit  of  common  action  through  representatives;  and  accustoming 
the  men  of  different  crafts  and  different  Unions  to  act  together 
for  purposes  of  a  social  nature,  they  gradually  lead  to  the  adoption 
of  the  idea  that  a  certain  range  of  industrial  questions  may  be 
treated  in  the  same  way.  In  some  of  the  best  estabUshments  which 
have  recently  instituted  Works  Committees  the  success  of  these 
committees  is  largely  attributed  to  the  work  which  committees  of  a 
social  character  have  done  in  preparing  the  ground. 

It  is  believed  that  the  ways  indicated  are  those  in  which  Works 
Committees  have  mainly  tended  to  arise.  In  a  subject  of  such 
variety,  however,  it  is  impossible  to  make  any  exhaustive  enumera- 
tion. Often  the  institution  of  a  Works  Committee  is  due  to  the 
initiative  of  an  employer  or  manager  who  desires  to  give  the  work- 
people a  larger  control  over  working  conditions  or  who  finds  that 
his  task  is  greatly  eased  if  he  can  deal  with  an  accredited  repre- 
sentative of  the  workmen.  Sometimes  a  committee  may  have  arisen 
in  connection  with  a  particular  dispute  and  for  negotiating  a  set- 
tlement, and  may  then,  in  the  issue,  be  adopted  as  a  permanent 
mode  of  working.     In  certain  cases  during  the  war,  as  before  it, 


Sai  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

the  creation  of  a  Works  Committee  has  been  one  of  the  terms  of 
settlement  of  a  dispute. 

in. — CONSTITUTION 

The  constitution  of  a  Works  Committee  naturally  varies  with  its 
functions.  A  Welfare  Committee,  handling  questions  in  which  the 
difference  between  unionist  and  non-unionist  workmen,  or  again  the 
difference  between  different  Unions  of  workmen,  hardly  arises,  will 
tend  to  be  composed  of  representatives  of  all  the  workers,  elected 
without  regard  to  differences  of  craft  or  grade  or  occupation.  An 
Industrial  Committee,  handling  as  it  does  questions  in  which  differ- 
ences of  skill  or  of  craft  are  concerned,  will  involve  a  new  range  of 
considerations.  It  may  be  necessary  to  consider  the  relation  of 
such  a  committee,  if  one  is  instituted,  to  the  existing  industrial 
organization  of  the  workmen  in  the  works  in  the  shape  of  shop  stew- 
ards or  delegates;  and,  again,  it  may  be  necessary  to  consider 
whether  management  and  labor  should  sit  together  as  a  Joint  Com- 
mittee (and,  if  so,  in  what  proportions),  or  whether  the  Works  Com- 
mittee should  be  one  of  workers  only,  with  opportunities  of  ready 
access  to  the  management — and  ultimately,  it  may  be,  to  the  di- 
rectors— when  such  access  is  desired. 

The  last  point  may  be  taken  first.  Joint  Committees  are  rare.i 
There  are  some  committees  of  this  nature,  containing  two  or  three 
representatives  of  the  management  and  about  a  dozen  representa- 
tives of  the  workmen,  which  meet  at  regular  intervals — in  one  case 
from  week  to  week,  but  more  often  at  longer  intervals.  Even  when 
the  Committee  is  a  Joint  Committee,  however,  some  provision  has 
generally  to  be  made  for  separate  meetings  of  the  representatives 
of  the  workers;  and,  as  a  rule.  Works  Committees  appear  to  be 
committees  of  the  workers  only,  with  regular  facilities  for  consulta- 
tion with  the  management,  either  at  fixed  intervals  or  whenever  oc- 
casion arises.  Joint  Committees  may  ultimately  come  to  be  the 
normal  form,  but  in  the  preliminary-  stage  of  development  it  seems 
likely  that  committees  of  workers  only,  with  regular  facilities  for 
access  to  the  management,  will  generally  be  the  form  adopted. 

W^here  the  committee  is  a  Joint  Committee,  the  idea  of  the  joint 
meeting  is  probably  first  mooted  by  the  management;  and  unless 
the  workers'  side  is  already  in  existence  the  management  may  sug- 

1  This  statement  applies  to  committees  whose  work  is  not  strictly  lim- 
ited to  one  or  two  functions.  The  actual  number  of  Joint  Committees 
is  large  if  we  include  the  "Absentee"  Committeea  at  coal  mines  and  the 
Timekeeping  Committees  at  ironworks. 


APPENDIX  G  325 

gest  the  basis  of  composition  and  the  methods  of  election  of  the 
committee.  Where,  however,  the  committee  is  a  committee  of  work- 
men only,  it  is  advisable  (whether  the  idea  of  such  a  committee 
is  suggested  by  the  management  or  develops  spontaneously  among 
the  workmen),  that  the  workmen  should  be  left  to  determine  the 
basis  of  its  composition  and  the  method  of  its  election  for  them- 
selves. 

Two  main  methods  appear  to  prevail  in  regard  to  the  composition 
of  a  Works  Committee  of  the  second  type  mentioned  above. 

(a)  The  committee  may  be  elected  by  all  the  workmen  employed, 
each  department  or  shop  being  treated  as  a  constituency,  and  re- 
turning a  number  of  members,  perhaps  in  proportion  to  its  size. 
This  appears  to  be  the  simplest  method  and  is  found  even  in  works 
in  which  the  workers  have  already  an  industrial  organization  in  the 
shape  of  shop  stewards  or  delegates.^  This  is  the  case  in  most 
works,  and  in  such  cases  it  may  be  advisable  to  build  on  the  existing 
organization.     This  brings  us  to  the  second  main  possibility. 

(b)  The  committee  may  be  a  committee  of  the  shop  stewards 
of  the  different  Unions  represented  in  the  works,  or,  in  a  large 
works  where  shop  stewards  are  numerous,  a  committee  elected  by 
the  shop  stewards.  In  one  works,  for  instance,  which  employs  about 
3,000  workmen,  the  Works  Committee  (in  this  case  a  Joint  Com- 
mittee) contains  12  representatives  of  the  workmen  elected  by  the 
shop  stewards  (some  40  in  number)  of  the  various  Unions  repre- 
sented in  the  works.  In  another  works  a  committee  of  seven 
shop  stewards  meets  the  management  monthly  and  discusses  ques- 
tions which  its  members  and  the  management  have  asked  to  have 
placed  on  the  agenda. 

The  two  methods  which  have  just  been  described  represent  the 
two  possibilities  at  either  end  of  the  scale;  but  various  methods 
may  be  employed  which  combine,  or  come  as  it  were  between,  these 
two  possibilities.  Even  where  the  committee  is  elected  by  all  the 
workmen,  unionist  or  non-unionist,  voting  by  departments,  the  ten- 
dency, if  the  works  is  strongly  unionist,  is  towards  the  election  of 
representatives  who  are  all  unionists  and  are  also,  either  altogether 
or  in  part,  shop  stewards  of  their  Unions.  In  one  works  with 
4,000  workmen  the  Works  Committee  of  21  members,  elected  by  a 
general  vote  of  the  men  workers,  is  entirely  composed  of  shop  stew- 

1  This  method  of  departmental  election  commonly  results  in  a  commit- 
tee, all  the  members  of  which  are  shop  stewards.  But  even  when  this 
is  so,  a  majority  of  the  shop  stewards  may  not  be  on  the  committee; 
and  the  members  may  be  drawn  from  a  minority  of  the  Unions. 


326  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

ards.  In  anotlier  works,  with  3,500  workmen,  in  which  a  Works 
Committee  lias  existed  for  about  10  years,  all  the  workmen  in  any 
department  may  vote,  but  only  unionist  workmen  can  be  elected, 
and  half  of  the  members  of  the  Works  Committee  are  shop  stewards. 

Another  method  which  deserves  special  notice  is  that  of  election 
on  the  l)asis  of  Unions,  all  the  members  of  a  Union  in  the  works 
electing  a  certain  number  of  representatives.  The  number  of  mem- 
bers to  which  a  Union  is  entitled  may  vary  in  direct  proportion  (or 
in  some  other  way)  with  its  membership  in  the  works.  Thus,  in  a 
scheme  under  consideration  for  an  engineering  works,  representation 
on  this  basis  gives  seven  members  to  three  General  Labor  Unions, 
eight  members  to  the  largest  Union  of  skilled  men,  two  members 
()  each  of  two  other  Unions  of  skilled  men,  and  one  member  to  each 
of  seven  other  skilled  Unions.  This  method — since  in  an  engineer- 
ing establishment  the  members  of  a  Union  may  be  distributed 
through  several  departments,  in  each  of  which  there  may  be  a  shop 
steward  or  stewards  of  the  Union — is  not  necessarily  identical  with 
that  in  which  the  shop  stewards  of  the  different  Unions  in  each 
department  form  the  committee.  In  several  iron  and  steel  works 
the  method  of  election  appears  to  be  by  the  members  of  each  branch 
of  a  Union  who  are  working  in  the  establishment. 

In  one  such  case  the  right  to  representation  is  stated  to  belong 
to  the  branch  because  it  has  members  in  the  works.  The  statement, 
however,  is  qualified  in  order  to  cover  the  case  of  a  Trade  Union 
branch — e.  g.,  of  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers  or  the 
Bricklayers'  Union — only  some  of  whose  members  may  be  employed 
in  the  particular  works.  In  their  case  only  the  members  of  the 
branch  employed  in  the  works  make  the  appointment;  and  from  the 
nature  of  the  case  the  representative  so  appointed  is  almost  bound 
to  be  the  person  acting  as  shop  steward  for  the  Union  in  the 
works.  This,  combined  with  the  fact  that  the  branches  of  the  iron 
and  steel  Trade  Unions  correspond  to  sections  or  departments  of 
workers  in  a  single  works,  makes  such  branch  representation  sim- 
ilar to  departmental  representation.  Another  feature  of  this  sys- 
tem is  that  the  secretary  of  any  branch  who  is  working  in  the 
establishment — this  is  almost  bound  to  be  the  case  with  branches 
the  membership  of  which  is  confined  to  the  works — is,  ex  officio,  a 
member  of  the  committee.  The  draft  proposals  for  representation 
now  being  discussed  by  the  shipbuilding  trades  in  one  district  are 
to  the  effect  that  each  Works  Committee  should  be  composed  of  a 
certain  number  of  representatives  from  the  men  of  each  trade  or 
Union  employed  in  the  yard,  and  that  among  the  representatives 


APPENDIX  G  327 

of  each  trade  or  Union  one  at  least  should  be  an  official  shop 
steward.  Some  of  the  Unions  in  the  shipbuilding  industry  include, 
it  may  be  noted,  several  trades,  and  the  official  yard  delegates  (or 
shop  stewards)  of  the  several  trades  in  one  Union  often  form  a 
Yard  Committee  for  such  functions  as  the  inspection  of  Union  cards. 

Other  methods  found  in  practice  are  election  of  all  the  members 
by  the  whole  of  the  employees  in  an  establishment  voting  as  one 
constituency,  and  election  by  occupations  or  trades. 

In  some  works  there  is  one  committee  for  skilled  men  and  another 
for  unskilled  or  semi-skilled.  In  several  large  engineering  es- 
tablishments, for  instance,  there  are  two  Committees  of  Shop  Stew- 
ards, one  for  craftsmen,  and  another  for  semi-skilled  men  and  la- 
borers. Generally,  however,  there  is  only  one  committee  for  both 
sets  of  workmen.  1^  The  persons  elected  to  such  a  committee  are  in 
certain  cases  drawn  solely  from  the  ranks  of  the  skilled  craftsmen, 
though  there  may  be  unskilled  men  (and  stewards  of  unskilled 
Unions)  in  the  works.  The  exclusion  of  any  direct  representation 
of  the  unskilled  men  in  such  circumstances  is  generally  due  to  the 
same  cause  as  the  absence  of  any  direct  representation  of  the 
smaller  craft  Unions,  viz.,  the  fact  that  a  department's  repre-  ' 
sentative  tends  to  belong  to  the  Union  which  has  most  members  in 
the  department.  There  are  certainly  cases  in  which  this  apparent 
exclusion  of  representation  of  the  interests  of  the  unskilled  is  a 
source  of  friction  between  the  different  classes  of  workers;  and  the 
presence  in  some  works  of  separate  committees  is  the  extreme  ex- 
pression of  such  difference  in  interest.  It  is  argued  that  the  un- 
skilled men — though  they  may  be  excluded  by  exactly  similar  cir- 
cumstances— are  in  a  different  position  from  a  minority  of  skilled 
men  who  may  be  excluded  from  direct  representation,  in  that  the 
interests  of  the  latter,  being  akin  to  their  own,  are  better  under- 
stood  by,    and   receive   more   sympathetic   consideration   from,   the 

1  A  Works  Committee  in  a  Midlands  munitions  factory  has  just  been 
reconstituted.  Previously  departmental  election  had  produced  a  com- 
mittee all  the  members  of  which  were  skilled  trade  unionists.  The  new 
method  gives  separate  representation  to  (i)  skilled  men,  (ii)  semi- 
skilled and  unskilled  men,  and  (iii)  women  employees.  This  scheme, 
advocated  and  carried  through  by  the  secretary,  who  is  an  official  of  his 
own  Union,  is  designed  to  give  all  grades  in  the  works  an  active  interest 
in  the  committee.  It  is  hoped  that  later  the  separate  representation  of 
the  diff'erent  grades  in  each  department  may  not  be  necessary:  previ- 
ously the  grades  not  directly  represented  have  not  opposed  the  commit- 
tee, which  has  been  very  successful,  but  they  have  not  shown  as  much 
interest  in  it  as  is  desired. 


328  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

skilled  men  on  the  committee.  It  would  nevertheless  appear  that 
most  committees  appointed  on  a  departmental  basis  do  succeed  in 
representinf^  fairly  the  interests  of  all  their  constituents;  and  it  is 
claimed  that  the  committee  member  tends  to  look  upon  himself  not 
as  the  representative  of  a  particular  craft  or  section  in  the  depart- 
ment, but  as  the  representative  of  the  department  as  a  whole. 

The  position  of  women  workers  is  in  some  respects  analogous  to 
that  of  unskilled  workmen.  In  some  cases  they  have  a  vote  for 
the  Works  Committee  elected  by  the  various  departments,  and  they 
may  have  a  representative  of  their  own  on  that  committee;  in 
other  cases  representation  is  secured  to  women's  departments  as 
such.  Sometimes,  even  where  women  arc  excluded  from  voting,  the 
Works  Committee  may  represent  their  interests;  and  it  may  en- 
tertain and  bring  before  the  notice  of  the  management  grievances 
of  women  workers  and  questions  affecting  their  interests  and  the 
conditions  of  their  labor.  Occasionally,  though  this  is  rare,  there 
is  a  separate  committee  to  represent  the  interests  of  women  workers. 

From  what  has  been  said  it  is  obvious  that  the  constitution  of  a 
Works  Committee  raises  a  number  of  questions.  (1)  In  the  first 
place,  there  is  the  question  whether  the  committee  should  be  based 
on  the  industrial  organization  of  shop  stewards,  where  such  or- 
ganization is  in  existence,  or  should  be  based  on  a  general  vote. 
(2)  In  the  next  place,  assuming  the  latter  alternative  to  be  adopted, 
there  is  the  question  whether  all  the  workers  should  vote,  and,  if  so, 
how  the  constituencies  should  be  arranged,  or  whether  only  unionist 
workers  should  vote,  and,  if  so,  bow  and  in  what  proportions  the 
different  Unions  should  be  represented.  (3)  Further,  there  is  the 
question  whether  there  should  be  a  single  committee,  or  one  com- 
mittee for  skilled  and  another  for  unskilled  workers;  and  (4)  finally, 
there  is  the  question  whether  women  workers  should  have  a  sepa- 
rate committee  or  be  represented  through  the  general  committee 
of  the  works. 

No  general  answer  can  be  given  to  any  or  all  of  these  questions. 
The  circumstances  of  different  works  vary,  and  each  type  has 
to  find  its  own  solution. 

Wherever  it  is  possible,  a  committee  of  shop  stewards  or  Trade 
Union  representatives  would  appear  to  be  the  best  solution. i  At 
the  same  time,  it  is  important  to  secure  that  the  size  of  the  commit- 
tee, while  large  enough  to  be  representative,  should  not  be  so  large 

1  As  will  be  seen  from  the  appendices,  individual  committees  formed 
on  very  different  lines  have  been  in  every  way  successful.  Since,  how- 
ever, the  problem  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  well  organized  indus- 


APPENDIX  G  329 

as  to  make  it  unwieldy,  and  that,  as  far  as  possible,  there  should 
be  direct  representation  of  each  department.  The  size  of  the  com- 
mittees actually  in  existence  varies;  some  committees  have  12  mem- 
bers, some  have  upwards  of  30.  The  smaller  number  seems  more 
likely  to  be  effective.  It  may  be  necessary,  therefore,  that  a  Works 
Committee,  if  it  contains  a  large  number  of  members,  should  ap- 
point a  smaller  committee  of  itself;  and  that,  while  the  manage- 
ment should  be  in  regular  contact  with  the  smaller  committee,  ques- 
tions of  difficulty  should  be  referred  by  the  smaller  committee  to 
the  larger,  the  management  meeting  the  larger  committee  in  case  of 
need.  In  its  choice  of  the  smaller  committee  the  Works  Commit- 
tee could  allocate  a  place,  or  a  number  of  places,  to  each  depart- 
ment or  group  of  departments.  Another  method  of  electing  a 
committee  of  manageable  size  would  be  that  from  the  stewards  in 
each  department  (or,  in  certain  cases,  groups  of  departments)  one 
should  be  appointed  by  a  general  election  held  in  the  department 
or  by  the  departmental  stewards  themselves.  In  certain  cases,  in 
large  works,  it  may  be  desirable  that  the  stewards  in  each  depart- 
ment should  form  Shop  Committees,  with  which  the  general  com- 
mittee could  keep  in  touch  and  from  which  its  members  could 
learn  the  needs  and  the  complaints  of  each  department.  Another 
variant  is  that  sub-committees  instead  of  being  departmental  should 
be  functional,  i.e.j  should  each  deal  with  a  particular  matter  or 
set  of  matters  such  as  dilution,  piecework,  suggestions  of  improve- 
ments, etc. 

The  existing  Works  Committees  have  generally  two  officers,  a 
chairman  and  a  secretary.  The  tenure  of  office  of  the  committee 
is  often  unfixed.     Where  it  is  fixed,  it  may  be  for  six  months  or 

tries  is  complicated  by  the  existence  of  poorly  organized  areas,  a 
pioposal  under  consideration  by  a  firm  in  which  considerably  less  than 
half  of  the  employees  are  trade  unionists  may  be  noted.  The  proposal 
is  that  the  Works  Committee  should  be  composed  of  departmental  rep- 
resentatives, who  will  include  the  shop  stewards,  and  that  from  this 
committee  as  a  whole,  or  from  the  shop  steward  and  the  non-shop  stew- 
ard sections  of  it  separately,  there  should  be  elected  a  small  number  of 
representatives  of  the  workers  to  sit  on  a  Joint  Committee.  The  pro- 
posal was  made  as  a  means  of  combininfj  fa-)  the  rocoirnition  of  shop 
stewards  and  (6)  the  representation  of  all  the  workpeople  on  the  Joint 
Committee,  without  duplication  of  committees  for  different  functions. 
The  firm,  which  recognizes  the  Unions  and  whose  conditions  are  above 
the  district  standards,  intends  that  the  Joint  Committee  should  deal 
with  a  very  wide  range  of  subjects,  only  some  of  which  are  shop  steward 
questions. 


330  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

for  a  yoiir.i  A  fixed  tenure,  provided  tliat  it  is  not  too  short, 
seems  desirable;  a  new  election  will  reinvi,i,H)rate  the  committee 
and  if  the  workmen  in  general  have  any  feelinf?  which  the  com- 
mittee has  failed  to  express,  it  will  give  a  chance  for  its  expres- 
sion. 

The  desirability  of  election  by  secret  ballot  has  been  emphasized 
by  many  employers  and  by  some  Trade  Unionists. 

IV. — PROCEDURE 

Some  Works  Committees  have  regular  meetings  with  the  man- 
agement, at  intervals  of  a  Aveek,  a  fortnight  or  a  month.  A  list 
of  agenda  is  circulated  and  regular  minutes  are  kept.  In  one  es- 
tablishment where  this  is  done  the  men's  chairman  presides  at  one 
fortnightly  meeting  and  a  representative  of  the  management  at  the 
next.  In  other  cases  the  meetings  are  not  regular,  but  are  held 
whenever  occasion  arises.  Arguments  may  be  used  both  for  and 
against  a  system  of  regular  meetings.  It  may  be  urged  in  their 
favor  that  they  provide  a  known  and  regular  time  for  raising  a 
question ;  that  they  enable  questions  to  be  raised  in  their  initial 
stages,  whereas,  if  meetings  are  not  held  until  occasion  arises,  a 
question  may  have  grown  acute  before  a  meeting  is  held;  and, 
finally,  that  by  bringing  representatives  of  the  management  and 
the  men  into  constant  contact,  they  accustom  either  side  to  seeing 
and  understanding  the  point  of  view  of  the  other.  It  may  be  urged, 
on  the  other  hand,  that  if  meetings  are  regular,  and  at  frequent 
intervals,  there  may  often  be  no  business  to  be  done,  and  that 
the  effect  may  be  either  to  make  the  committee  slack,  or  to  induce 
the  more  restless  members  to  manufacture  business  by  finding 
grievances  and  discovering  difficulties.  In  any  case  it  may  be  sug- 
gested that  the  main  thing  is  not  so  much  regularity  of  meetings,  as 
what  may  be  called  the  principle  of  the  open  door.  If  the  men 
know  that  their  representatives  have  access  to  the  management, 
and  if  they  know  that  the  management,  on  its  side,  is  ready  to 
consult  their  representatives,  tlie  success  of  the  main  function  of 
the  committee  is  secured.  The  number  of  times  at  which  a  gen- 
eral Works  Committee  needs  to  meet  the  management  will  vary 
with  the  type  of  works  and  with  the  degree  to  which  sectional 
questions  can  be  handled  by  such  a  committee.  One  committee,  in 
an  establishment  in  which  relations  have  always  been   good,   has 

1  In  certain  exceptional  cases  committee  members  are  elected  monthly 
and  the  secretary  quarterly. 


APPENDIX  G  331 

met  the  management  on  an  average  three  times  a  year  in  the  last 
twenty-four  years,  though  in  the  last  three  years,  owing  to  the 
number  of  questions  raised  by  the  war,  the  average  number  of 
meetings  in  each  year  has  been  seven.  During  the  whole  existence 
of  the  committee,  however,  the  right  of  the  separate  trade  delegates 
to  meet  the  management  has  been  freely  used.  Employers  com- 
plain that  workpeople  tend  to  want  all  questions  settled  offhand, 
and  fail  to  realize  that  investigation  may  be  necessary;  and  one 
argument  in  favor  of  regular  meetings  is  that  they  form  a  perma- 
nent and  businesslike  substitute  for  frequent  sectional  deputa- 
tions. There  would  appear  to  be  many  questions  which  can  be  set- 
tled in  a  more  satisfactory  way  if  they  are  discussed  and  investi- 
gated at  regular  joint  meetings.  This  method,  however,  cannot  be 
applied  indiscriminately;  there  will  always  be  matters  of  urgency 
which  must  be  taken  up  as  they  arise;  and  sectional  questions  may, 
in  certain  cases,  be  better  treated  apart  from  the  regular  meetings 
of  a  general  Works  Committee. 

One  other  caution  may  be  suggested  in  this  connection.  Works 
Committees  instituted  in  engineering  establishments  during  the 
course  of  the  war  have  naturally  found  abundant  work.  The  same 
will  probably  be  true  of  the  period  of  reconstruction  after  the  end 
of  the  war.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  under  normal  conditions 
a  system  of  weekly  or  fortnightly  meetings  might  prove  unneces- 
sary. It  maj'  be  suggested,  therefore,  that  a  distinction  may  be 
drawn,  on  the  point  of  frequency  of  meetings,  between  what  may 
be  called  "the  emergency  period"  and  the  period  of  normal  condi- 
tions. 

Another  question  of  procedure,  which  also  bears  on  the  matter 
of  frequency  of  meetings,  is  connected  with  the  position  of  the  sec- 
retary of  a  Works  Committee.  In  many  establishments  which  have 
Works  Committees  a  large  part  of  the  active  work  which  they  entail 
is  done  by  the  secretary.  Difficulties  are  reported  to  him  by  the 
workmen  concerned  either  directly  or  through  a  member  of  the 
committee,  and  he,  after  consultation  with  the  committee  (or,  it 
may  be,  in  lesser  matters,  immediately),  brings  the  difficulties  be- 
fore the  management.  Such  difficulties  may  often  be  settled  at 
once,  and  their  settlement  simply  reported  to  the  Works  Committee. 
A  great  deal  of  work  may  thus  be  thrown  upon  the  secretary  in 
consulting  the  workmen  concerned  and  in  interviewing  the  manage- 
ment, and  the  position  is  thus  one  which  offers  a  great  deal  of  scope 
to  a  man  of  capacity.  Such  a  man  may  largely  carry  on  his  shoul- 
ders the  current  work,  and  the  committee  may  only  need  to  deal 
with  larger   questions.     But   the   position   has   its   difficulties,   and 


332  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

there  arc  two  matters  wliicli  deserve  particular  notice.  One  of 
these  is  tlie  ((uestion  of  the  secretary  or  cfiairman's  movirif:^  about 
the  works  during  working  hours,  and  entering  departments  other 
than  his  own,  for  the  purpose  of  interviewing  any  workman  who 
has  preferred  a  complaint.  If  the  secretary  is  bound  to  ask  the 
consent  of  a  foreman  or  overlooker  before  he  enters  a  department, 
and  if  that  consent  may  be  refused,  the  work  which  the  secretary 
can  do  in  investigating  and  removing  grievances  is  liable  to  be 
hindered.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  can  enter  any  department 
(witliout  any  formality,  or  on  simple  notification  of  his  wish) 
and  engage  in  discussion  with  a  workman,  the  work  of  the  depart- 
ment may  be  held  to  be  likely  to  suffer.  From  the  experience  of 
several  works,  however,  it  would  appear  that  this  freedom  of  move- 
ment is  found  to  be  an  essential  condition  of  the  success  of  a  com- 
mittee. The  extent  of  freedom  necessary,  and  the  members  of  the 
committee  to  whom  it  should  be  allowed,  will  vary  with  the  size  and 
the  other  circumstances  of  a  works. 

The  other  matter  which  arises  in  connection  with  the  position 
of  the  secretary  is  concerned  with  his  remuneration.  His  secre- 
tarial duties  may  interfere  with  his  own  work.  He  is  bound  to 
lose  time,  and,  consequently,  unless  some  arrangement  is  made  to 
indemnify  him,  he  is  bound  to  lose  wages.  In  one  case,  in  which, 
it  is  true,  the  work  is  specially  complicated  and  onerous,  the  amount 
of  time  spent  on  secretarial  work  is  said  to  amount  to  a  total  of 
30  hours  in  the  week;  in  another  case  the  loss  of  wages  involved 
has,  over  a  period  of  several  weeks,  amounted  to  £2  a  week.  In 
one  large  works,  where  the  committee  is  engaged  to  a  great  extent 
with  questions  arising  from  charitable  work,  the  secretary  now  gives 
his  whole  time  to  the  duties  of  his  position,  and  is  paid  by  the 
firm.  In  some  cases  it  would  appear  that  the  secretary  is  paid 
ordinary  time-wages  for  the  time  he  spends  on  secretarial  business 
in  working  hours;  in  other  cases,  where  the  work  is  premium  bonus 
or  piece-work,  he  may  receive  the  average  earnings,  or,  again,  his 
companions  may  keep  his  machine  running  in  his  absence.  It 
seems,  however,  that  some  arrangement  is  necessarj'  to  meet  what 
is  often  a  real  difficulty.  It  may  be  argued  that  the  management 
should  pay  the  secretary  ^  the  full  wages  which  he  would  otherwise 

1  In  certain  cases  the  secretary's  (or  chief  shop  steward's)  guarantee 
of  average  earnings  appears  to  depend  upon  the  will  of  a  foreman  or 
ratefixer.  Thus  in  one  large  establishment,  where  the  premium  bonus 
system  is  in  operation,  a  chief  shop  steward  is  paid  his  time  for  periods 
during  which  he  is  engaged  on  negotiations  with  the  management;  it  is 
usual,  however,  for  the  ratefixer  to  see  that  sufficient  "extras"  are  added 


APPENDIX  G  333 

have  made,  since  the  work  he  does  conduces  to  the  better  running 
of  the  establishment.  On  the  other  hand,  the  men  might  object  to 
such  a  course,  on  the  ground  that  it  tended  to  make  the  secretary 
more  dependent  on  the  management  and  less  of  a  fellow-workman. 
Another  method,  which  is  employed  in  some  cases,  is  that  the  secre- 
tary should  be  reimbursed  for  lost  time  by  the  workmen.  In  cer- 
tain cases  it  may  be  noted  that  weekly  contributions  are  paid  by 
the  workpeople  to  meet  the  expenses  of  meetings,  etc. 

Another  question,  which  is  somewhat  analogous,  concerns  the 
time  of  the  meetings  of  the  Works  Committee.  Under  one  plan  the 
meetings  may  be  held  in  tlie  employer's  time,  and  the  members  may 
be  paid  full  rates  during  the  time  they  spend  in  attendance. 
This  is  a  plan  which  is  often  adopted  when  there  are  regular  meet- 
ings with  the  management.  Many  committees  which  have  no  regu- 
lar meetings  with  the  management  meet  after  working  hours. 
Another  plan,  which  has  been  suggested^  is  that  the  meetings  should 
be  held  partly  in  the  employer's  time  (the  members  being  paid  full 
rates  during  that  time)  and  partly  in  the  time  of  the  men,  or,  in 
other  words,  after  working  hours.  This  may  present  some  diffi- 
culties, as  some  of  the  members  may  find  it  inconvenient  to  stay 
after  working  hours.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  argued  that  this 
course  best  corresponds  to  the  logic  of  the  situation;  management 
and  men  both  gain  from  the  work  of  a  committee,  and  it  seems 
logical  that  either  side  should  surrender  a  part  of  its  time.  The 
solution  of  the  problem  depends  to  some  extent  on  the  length  of 
the  working  day.  Members  of  committees  have  complained  that 
to  meet  at  8  or  8.30  p.  m.,  after  3  hours  of  overtime,  was  "a  bit 
hard."  Under  normal  hours  the  attitude  would  have  been  different. 
In  the  matter  of  procedure  in  the  stricter  sense  of  the  term 
there  is  at  present  a  good  deal  of  variety.  Generally  the  pro- 
cedure is  somewhat  informal,  and  this,  in  the  earlier  stages  of  a 
Works  Committee,  is  perhaps  to  the  good.  The  normal  procedure, 
so  far  as  one  can  speak  of  a  normal  procedure,  is  somewhat  as 
follows : — 

(1)   A  workman  who  has  a  grievance  will  report  it,  directly 
or  through  the  committeeman  in  his  department,  to  the 
secretary.     Lesser    grievances,    which    do    not    affect    a 
number  of  men  or  raise  a  general  question,  may  be  set- 
to  the  man's  bonus  earnings  to  neutralize  the  difference  between  the  time 
wages  and  what  might  have  been  earned  on  bonus  for  the  periods  in 
question.     This  more  or  less  casual  arrangement  does  not  appear  to  be 
a  very  satisfactory  solution  of  the  difliculty. 


334  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

tied  at  once  by   the  secretary   with  the  foreman  or  de- 
partmental rnanaincr  concerned. 

(2)  Urievauces  which  are  not  thus  settled  are  taken  up  by  the 

committee,    and    brought    by    the    comuaitlee    before    the 
management. 

(3)  If  grievances   or  disputes   are   not   settled   with  the   man- 

agement, they  are  carried  to  the  branch  or  the  district 
organization  of  the  Trade  Union  or  Trade  Unions  con- 
cerned, and  they  go  henceforth  along  the  ordinary  chan- 
nels of  Trade  Union  organization. 
The  effect  of  this  procedure  can  best  be  seen  by  comparing  it 
with  the  procedure  which  is  followed  in  the  absence  of  a  Works 
Committee  or  of  recognized  shop  stewards  for  the  separate  trades. 
Where  there  is  no  Works  Committee,  the  individual  workmen,  or  a 
delegation  of  workmen,  will  bring  their  case  to  the  management,  if 
they  can  get  admission ;  and  failing  any  agreement,  the  matter 
will  go  straight  to  the  Trade  Union.  Where  there  is  a  Works 
Committee  the  difference  is  this:  first  that  there  is  a  certainty  of 
admission  to  the  management;  secondly,  that  instead  of  the  onus  of 
stating  their  ease  being  thrown  on  the  individuals  concerned,  there 
is  a  regular  machinery  (the  officers  and  the  committee)  to  sift  the 
case  and  to  state  it  formally;  thirdly,  that,  instead  of  the  action 
taken  being  individual  or  sectional,  it  is  the  general  action  of  a 
body  representative  of  all  the  works;  and,  finally,  that  there  are 
two  chances  of  a  settlement  being  attained  in  the  works  (first  be- 
tween the  secretary  and  the  foreman  or  departmental  manager, 
and,  failing  that,  between  the  committee  and  the  management)  be- 
fore the  question  goes  outside  for  settlement.  The  main  difference 
between  this  procedure  and  that  adopted  when  trade  shop  stewards 
are  recognized  is  much  less,  and  only  arises  on  the  third  of  the 
points  just  mentioned.  This  difference,  however,  is  important,  be- 
cause it  involves  the  problem  of  the  delimitation  of  a  Works  Com- 
mittee's functions.  It  may  also  be  noted  that,  in  certain  cases  at 
least,  the  machinery  of  the  Works  Committee  is  brought  into  oiiera- 
tion  not  as  a  preliminary  to  the  question  going  before  a  Trade 
Union  branch,  but  in  support  of  a  decision  previously  come  to  by 
a  branch.  This  is  so  in  certain  iron  and  steel  works.  The  differ- 
ence, it  may  be  said,  is  more  apparent  than  real,  because  many 
of  the  branches  (and  these  the  strongest  in  numbers)  are  in  such 
eases  works  branches — that  is  to  say,  the  membership  of  the  branch 
is  confined  to  men  employed  in  the  works.  On  the  other  hand, 
certain  branches  extend  their  membership  beyond  the  works;  and, 
in  so  far  as  the  Works  Committee  takes  up  a  case  already  enter- 


APPENDIX  G  335 

tained  by  such  a  branch  as  union  business,  there  is  another  form 
of  procedure.  This  procedure  appears  to  have  been  adopted  in 
certain  cases  with  the  acquiescence  of  the  Trade  Union  branch  con- 
cerned. It  seems  important  that  the  place  of  the  Works  Commit- 
tee in  relation  to  trade  questions  should  be  properly  defined;  other- 
wise there  may  be  dangers  of  overlapping  and  confusion  through 
(a)  the  diversion  of  a  purely  trade  question  to  the  Works  Com- 
mittee, when  it  ought  to  go  through  the  ordinary  Trade  Union 
channels,  or  (b)  the  use  by  a  Trade  Union  branch  of  the  Works 
Committee  in  support  of  a  case  which  it  should  properly  call  upon 
the  oflScials  of  its  Union  to  handle. 

Three  other  matters  of  procedure  call  for  notice.  One  of  these 
is  the  use  of  what  may  be  called  "the  referendum."  A  Works  Com- 
mittee, when  its  members  feel  that  a  matter  is  important,  and  that 
it  is  necessary  that  they  should  ascertain  and  carry  with  tliem 
the  opinion  of  the  workers  either  in  a  department  or  in  all  the 
works,  may  summon  a  general  meeting  and  bring  the  matter  for- 
ward for  discussion  in  that  meeting.  There  may  be  no  rules  to 
decide  when  this  should  be  done,  and  it  may  be  done  at  different 
stages,  either  before  a  matter  has  been  discussed  with  the  man- 
agement or  subsequently  to  such  discussion;  but  the  possibility  of 
such  a  general  meeting  enables  the  committee  to  make  sure  that  its 
policy  will  be  adopted  by  the  workmen  concerned,  and  it  puts  it  in 
a  position  to  assure  the  management  that  a  policy  thus  confirmed 
can  really  be  carried  into  effect.  In  certain  industries  the  regular 
shop  meeting  is  a  feature  of  shop  organization.  This  is  so,  for 
example,  in  furnishing  and  in  the  woodworking  side  of  the  air- 
craft industry  in  London.  The  shop  meeting  is  really  a  factory 
meeting,  and  is  held  once  a  month. 

Another  matter  of  procedure  is  one  which  touches  the  manage- 
ment and  directors  of  a  firm.  It  is  important  that  the  representa- 
tives of  the  firm,  who  meet  the  committee,  or  (if  it  is  a  joint  body) 
sit  on  the  committee,  should  belong  to  the  highest  rank,  and  should 
include  the  general  works  manager  (or,  if  there  is  one,  the  labor 
superintendent)!  and  one  or  more  of  the  directors.  A  great  part 
of  the  value  of  the  Works  Committee,  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  men,  is  that  it  brings  them  into  contact,  and  gives  them  an 
opportunity  of  discussion,  with  the  authorities  with   whom,  in  its 

1  A  particularly  interesting  development  diiring  the  war  has  been  the 
appointment  to  the  management  staiTs  of  several  establishments  of  per- 
sons whose  chief  function  is  to  deal  with  labor  questions.  The  success 
of  a  Works  Committee  may  to  a  considcM-able  extent  depend  upon  the 
status  and  qualifications  of  such  an  oflBcial. 


336  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

absence,  they  seldom  get  into  close  touch,  and  then  only  on  points 
of  difference.  Nor  is  it  only  the  workmen  who  stand  to  gain  if  the 
iiighest  rank  of  management  is  represented.  Members  of  the  firm 
who  are  primarily  occupied  with  finance  or  technique  will  be 
l)rought  into  contact  with  those  (juestions  of  labor  wiiich  are  the 
fundamental  problems  of  industry,  and  in  discussing  these  ques- 
tions with  the  representatives  of  the  workmen  they  are  likely  to 
gain  a  deeper  insight  into  the  best  methods  of  conducting  the  in- 
dustry. 

Lastly,  there  are  questions  connected  with  the  keeping  of  min- 
utes, the  drawing  up  of  agenda,  the  presentation  of  complaints, 
and  the  like.  Where  regular  joint  meetings  are  held  it  is  com- 
mon for  a  complete  record  of  each  meeting  to  be  made  in  short- 
hand by  a  member  of  the  staff  and  for  the  workpeople's  secretary 
to  make  notes  of  the  proceedings;  minutes  based  on  the  complete 
record  may  be  circulated  among  the  members  of  the  committee  after 
the  meeting.  Even  where  the  committee  of  workpeople  as  a  whole 
does  not  meet  the  management,  it  may  supply  the  latter  with  copies 
of  the  minutes  which  concern  the  management.  It  is  common  for 
the  manasrement  to  supply  typing  facilities  for  the  duplication  of 
minutes  and  of  agenda.  In  some  works  complaints  made  to  the 
committee  must  be  in  writing.  This  rule  has  sometimes  been  in- 
troduced in  order  to  check  the  making  of  frivolous  complaints  or 
inaccurate  statements;  it  may  be  compared  with  a  method  of  the 
"chapel,"  where  a  member  may  call  a  special  meeting  by  placing 
a  shilling  (or  other  sum)  "on  the  stone"  on  pain  of  forfeiting  his 
shilling  if  the  chapel  decides  that  his  complaint  is  groundless. 

V. — FUNCTIONS 

Since  Works  Committees  are  of  different  types,  it  is  obvious 
that  their  functions  vary  considerably.  In  the  first  place  there  is 
the  distinction  already  mentioned  under  the  head  of  nomenclature. 
A  Welfare  Committee  is  concerned  with  all  questions  that  affect 
the  comfort  and  physical  well  being  of  the  workman  while  he  is 
engaged  on  his  occupation;  an  Industrial  Committee  is  concerned 
with  industrial  conditions  in  general.  Often  a  Works  Committee 
will  undertake  both  sets  of  functions,  but  some  committees  may  be 
confined,  primarily  at  any  rate,  to  the  working  of  a  system  of  bonus 
on  output  or  premium  bonus  or  piece-rates;  others  may  be  confined 
to  questions  of  dilution;  others  may  have  a  general  and  undefined 
scope  which  depends  on  an  unwritten  understanding  between  man- 
agement and  men. 


APPENDIX  G  337 

There  are  several  questions  of  a  general  character  which  deserve 
some  attention,  before  we  turn  to  the  detailed  functions  actually 
discharged  by  various  Works  Committees.  Are  these  functions 
always  consultative,  or  are  they  sometimes  executive?  This  raises 
another  question — is  it  possible,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  to 
speak  of  a  Joint  Works  Committee?  What,  again,  are  the  func- 
tions of  the  management,  and  how  far  may  a  Works  Committee 
trench  on  these  functions  ?  Finally,  what  is  meant  by  "recognition," 
and  what  is  the  effect  of  recognition  on  the  functions  and  powers  of 
a  Works  Committee? 

As  far  as  the  first  question  is  concerned,  it  would  appear  that 
the  functions  of  a  Works  Committee  are  practically  alwaj-s  con- 
sultative. Usually  a  Works  Committee  can  bring  matters  before 
the  management  and  discuss  them  with  the  management;  it  can 
press  its  views  about  these  matters  on  the  management;  in  the  last 
resort,  it  can  induce  the  Trade  Union  organization  to  call  a  strike. 
But  the  Works  Committee  cannot  usually,  as  such,  carry  its  views 
into  action,  or  ensure  that  they  shall  be  carried  into  action,  by  any 
direct  machinery.  The  management  has  the  executive  power,  and 
unless  the  management  is  impressed  by  the  representations  of  the 
members  of  the  committee,  or  by  the  sanction  which  lies  behind 
them,  those  representations  will  not  lead  to  executive  action. i  This 
would  appear  to  be  usual  even  where  the  Works  Committee  is  a 
Joint  Committee.  There  are,  indeed,  certain  cases  in  which  the 
decision  of  a  majority  of  the  members  of  such  a  Joint  Committee 
is  carried  into  effect.  This  is  so  in  the  Pit-head  and  certain  other 
committees  which  have  the  power  to  fine  bad  timekeepers;  and 
in  certain  engineering  establishments  the  question  of  prosecuting 
bad  timekeepers  before  the  Munitions  Tribunal  is  decided  by  Joint 
Works  Committees.  But,  so  far  as  can  be  discovered,  the  general 
custom  is  to  the  contrary.  Unanimity  must  be  attained;  the  man- 
agement must  be  convinced,  and  both  sides  must  freely  agree  to- 
gether, before  executive  action  is  taken.  The  operation  of  a  Joint 
Committee  is  really  in  the  nature  of  consultation  between  two 
parties — consultation  which,  if  it  results  in   unanimity,  results  in 

1  In  one  establishment,  however,  decisions  upon  disciplinary  and  time- 
keepinof  cases  made  by  a  committee  wholly  composed  of  workpeople  are 
accepted  by  the  firm.  In  some  cases  such  ftmctions  as  the  day  to  day 
administration  of  a  mess-room  are  discharged  by  committees  wholly 
composed  of  workpeople.  Even  in  such  cases,  however,  an  important 
decision — for  example,  one  involving  capital  expenditure — would  usu- 
ally have  to  meet  with  the  approval  of  the  management  before  it  could 
be  put  into  force. 


'MS  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

jiction,  but  not  otherwise.  It  would  be  a  mistake  to  think  in  terms 
of  votinj,',  or  to  think  tliat  even  if  there  is  voting,  its  result  is  a 
formal  decision  by  a  majority  vote.  What  happens  is  rather  dis- 
cussion by  which  misunderstanding  is  often  removed,  and  upon 
which,  if  unanimitij  is  attained  between  the  two  sides,  action  will 
ensue.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  generally  we  cannot  speak  of 
Joint  Committees,  if  by  Joint  Committees  we  understand  joint 
executive  councils  acting  by  the  vote  of  the  majority.  On  the  other 
hand,  there  are  Joint  Committees,  if  by  Joint  Committees  we  un- 
derstand deliberative  meetings  of  both  sides,  always  attended  by 
both  sides,  though  often  accompanied  by  separate  meetings  of  the 
two  sides.  1 

A  question  of  importance,  when  we  are  considering  the  functions 
of  a  Works  Committee,  is  the  definition  of  the  term  "manage- 
ment." It  may  be  urged,  on  the  one  side,  that  the  functions  of  a 
Works  Committee  should  not  be  such  as  to  interfere  with  man- 
agement; it  may  be  urged,  on  the  other,  that  if  a  Works  Com- 
mittee is  to  be  debarred  from  questions  of  management  it  loses 
reality  and  becomes  a  mere  form.  Much,  therefore,  depends  on 
the  sense  in  which  the  term  management  is  used.  Is  the  work  of 
the  foremen  j^art  of  management"?  Or  does  the  word  denote  the 
higher  organization  of  industry?     It  would  appear  that  a  Works 

1  The  division  between  executive  and  advisory  powers  in  a  scheme  now 
under  consideration  for  an  engineering  works  may  be  noted.  It  is  pro- 
posed that  the  former  should  include  ( 1 )  those  powers  conferred  by  the 
Trade  Unions  and  in  accordance  with  the  constitution  or  resolutions  of 
the  local  Allied  Engineering  Trades  and  (2)  those  conferred  by  the  firm. 
The  suggested  first  list  of  executive  powers  contains  the  following:  — 
determination  of  hours  of  work  (with  minimum  of  50  per  week)  ;  mess- 
room;  heating,  lighting,  sanitary  matters,  etc.;  ambulance;  collections, 
supervision  of  notice  boards,  entertainments,  etc.;  proposed  technical 
lending  library  and  works  magazine;  and  organization  of  the  Sports 
Association.  The  advisory  functions  include  the  regulation  of  piece- 
work; the  engagement,  discharge,  dilution  and  transfer  of  labor  (ex- 
cluding disciplinary  discharges)  ;  training  and  education  of  apprentices; 
siiggestion  of  improvements  in  methods;  timekeeping,  etc.  It  is  pro- 
posed that  seven  sub-committees  be  formed,  each  sub-committee  to  deal 
with  one  or  more  of  the  above-mentioned  functions,  e.g.  a  sub-committee 
for  hours  of  work,  engagements  and  discharges,  and  timekeeping:  a  sub- 
committee for  messroom;  and  a  sub-committee,  advisory  and  negotia- 
tory,  for  piecework.  There  is  this  reservation  in  regard  to  executive 
functions  that  if  capital  expenditure  is  involved  authority  should  be 
obtained  from  the  firm  before  such  expenditure  is  incurred. 


APPENDIX  G  339 

Committee,  if  it  is  to  be  of  any  value  in  ventilating  and  removing 
grievances,  must  be  in  a  position  to  ventilate  grievances  arising 
from  the  conduct  of  foremen  or  overlookers.  Such  grievances  touch 
the  worker  most  closely  in  his  daily  work,  and  if  they  cannot  be 
discussed  the  committee  loses  a  sphere  of  action  in  which  it  might 
be  of  the  greatest  service.  It  is  true  that  if  a  committee  has  the 
right  of  criticizing  the  action  of  foremen,  difficulties  may  arise. 
Foremen  may  feel  that  their  authority  is  undermined;  they  may 
feel  that  they  are  being  made  responsible  not  only,  as  heretofore, 
to  the  management  (a  responsibility  they  know  and  understand), 
but  also  to  the  committee;  they  may  feel  that,  with  a  dual  re- 
sponsibility, their  position  becomes  exceedingly  difficult.  These  are 
real  problems.  In  many  instances,  however,  they  seem  to  have 
been  surmounted;  and  if  they  prove  serious,  they  may  perhaps  be 
met,  to  some  extent,  if  the  general  manager  arranges  to  meet  the 
foremen  in  advance,  and  to  discuss  with  them  criticisms  and  griev- 
ances which  have  come  from  the  Works  Committee. 

The  last  of  the  general  questions  raised  by  a  consideration  of 
the  functions  and  position  of  a  Works  Committee  is  that  of 
"recognition."  This,  again,  is  a  term  which  seems  to  be  under- 
stood in  different  senses,  and  which  it  is  difficult  to  define.  A 
committee  may  be  held,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  manage- 
ment, not  to  be  recognized,  even  when  the  management  is  in 
constant  touch  with  its  secretary,  and  even  when  it  consents 
to  meet  those  members  of  the  committee  who  represent  a  depart- 
ment which  has  a  grievance.  Here  the  point  would  appear  to  be 
that  the  management  does  not,  as  such,  formally  meet  the  whole 
committee.  In  another  case  a  system  almost  exactly  parallel — a 
system  under  which  the  management  interviews  four  or  five  mem- 
bers of  the  committee — is  described  as  one  of  "recognition."  The 
term  "recognition"  thus  appears  to  have  no  fixed  meaning;  and  it 
may  be  concluded  that  what  matters  is  the  fact  of  consultation  be- 
tween a  committee  and  the  management  rather  than  any  formal 
pronouncement  about  the  fact. 

In  the  preceding  paragraphs  the  functions  of  a  Works  Com- 
mittee have  been  discussed  with  reference  to  the  management.  It 
is  obvious  that  they  must  also  be  discussed  with  reference  to  Trade 
Union  organization.  A  Works  Committee  must  stand  in  some  sort 
of  relation  to  the  district  committees  of  the  Unions  to  which  the 
workmen  in  the  works  belong,  and  some  demarcation  of  functions, 
whether  explicit  or  implicit,  has  to  be  made.  The  relations  vary, 
and  the  demarcation  is  not  always  easy  to  make.  Generally  the 
division  is  said  to  be  that  questions  of  general  application — district 


aw  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

rates  of  wages,  hours  of  work,  and  otlior  district  or  national  con- 
ditions of  work — are  regarded  by  Works  Committees  as  outside 
their  sphere,  and  such  questions  are  left  to  be  settled  by  the  em- 
ployers or  associations  of  employers  with  the  Trade  Unions. ^  On 
the  other  hand,  questions  of  a  particular  application  relating  to  a 
works — for  example,  a  piece-rate  for  a  particular  job  for  which 
it  is  impossible  to  lay  down  any  general  piece-rate  for  the  district — 
are  regarded  as  belonging  to  tlie  functions  of  a  Works  Commit- 
tee. Such  a  committee  may  thus  deal  (1)  with  the  particular 
application  in  the  works  of  a  principle  general  to  the  district,  and 
(2)  with  questions  which  are  entirely  peculiar  to  the  works.  But 
the  general  problem  of  the  relations  of  W^orks  Committees  and 
Trade  Union  organization  is  one  that  demands  separate  treatment, 
and  it  will  accordingly  be  treated  in  a  subsequent  section. 

The  powers  of  the  management  and  the  powers  of  the  local 
Trade  Union  organization  may  be  said  to  constitute  two  points 
more  or  less  fixed,  and  the  powers  of  a  Works  Committee  are 
naturally  determined  with  reference  to  these  two  points  in  ways 
that  vary  according  as  those  points  vary.  Turning  to  the  W^orks 
Committee  in  itself,  we  may  distinguish  two  main  types  of  func- 
tion. In  the  first  type  a  committee  is  primarily  concerned  with 
some  one  particular  thing — a  scheme  of  dilution,  a  system  of  bonus, 
or  a  method  of  profit-sharing.  This  does  not  prevent  such  a  com- 
mittee from  dealing  incidentally  with  other  things.  On  the  con- 
trary, a  committee  on  dilution  will  be  led  to  discuss  the  wages  of 
dilutees  and  other  questions;  a  committee  on  a  bonus  system  will 
be  led  to  deal  with  time-keeping  and  other  matters  which  affect  the 
bonus.  A  committee,  therefore,  which  is  primarily  and  formally 
concerned  with  a  particular  thing  may  actually  be  something  of 
the  nature  of  a  general  Works  Committee.  When  once  an  or- 
ganization is  created,  if  only  for  a  single  activity,  it  will  naturally 
become  a  center  for  other  activities;  the  management,  finding  a  rep- 
resentative organization  which  it  can  consult,  may  consult  it  on 
broader  issues;  and  vice  versa  the  representative  oi'ganization,  meet- 
ing the  management  to  discuss  one  issue,  may  readily  tend  to  bring 
forward  other  issues.  The  tendency  for  this  to  come  about  is 
greater  if  the  committee  is  one  of  shop  stewards  who  are  charged 
by  their  Unions  with  a  general  supervision  of  conditions. 

In  the  second  type  a  committee  is  from  the  first  general  in  its 

1  This  does  not  mean  that  the  Works  Committee  may  not  consider 
an  alleged  infringement  of  such  conditions.  This,  as  we  saw  previously, 
is  one  of  the  usual  duties  of  shop  stewards. 


APPENDIX  G  341 

range,  and  is  formed  to  deal  with  the  general  industrial  conditions 
of  a  works.  One  such  committee  lias  for  its  province  (1)  to  inquire 
into  grievances  reported  by  workmen;  (2)  to  bring  before  and  dis- 
cuss with  the  management  grievances  that  it  considers  genuine;  (3) 
to  consider  complaints  about  wages  and  piece-rates  which  concern 
individuals;  (4)  to  consider  questions  relating  to  the  health  and 
safety  of  the  workmen;  (5)  to  consult  with  the  management  on  the 
interpretation  of  awards,  orders  and  circulars;  and  (6)  to  consider 
generally  the  conditions  of  work  in  the  establisment.  This  may 
be  considered  to  be  fairly  typical.  Another  committee,  primarily 
concerned  with  piece-rates,  has  also  dealt  with  questions  of  ventila- 
tion and  sanitation,  complaints  about  the  decisions  of  foremen,  ar- 
rangement of  shifts  and  of  hours  of  admission  to  the  works,  the 
allocation  of  piece-work  and  time-work,  and  the  interpretation  of 
official  orders  and  circulai'S.  Other  matters,  handled  by  Works  Com- 
mittees include  works  discipline,  especially  timekeeping,  methods  of 
paying  wages,  hours  of  overtime,  and  the  like. 

Instances  may  be  cited  of  committees  which  are  tending  to  exer- 
cise, or  actually  exercise,  peculiar  and  interesting  functions.  In 
several  cases  Works  Committees  have  made  suggestions  for 
economies  in  the  running  of  machinery,  and  it  is  agreed  on  both 
sides  that  the  committees  have  brought  to  light  weak  spots  in  or- 
ganization.i  A  striking  feature  is  the  keenness  of  certain  commit- 
tees, or  of  the  more  active  members  of  these  committees,  to  discuss 
the  after-war  situation,  and  this  in  relation  not  only  to  working 
conditions,  but  also  to  such  problems  as  the  proper  employment  of 
plant.  Another  case  is  equally  interesting.  This  is  the  case  of 
a  works  in  which  a  Works  Tribunal  has  been  instituted  in  lieu  of  the 
Local  Munitions  Tribunal.  The  men  elect  a  jury  of  twelve  and  a 
chairman;  and  this  tribunal  has  been  successful  in  bringing  about 
a  great  improvement  in  discipline  and  time-keeping.i  An  incident 
in  this  works,  though  it  does  not  bear  directly  on  the  matter  of 
Works  Committees,  is  indirectly  of  value  as  showing  that  consulta- 
tion with  the  workmen  may  be  of  great  service  to  the  management. 
A  question  arose  of  the  introduction  of  dilution  into  the  works,  and 
the  men  in  the  pattern-making  shops  objected  to  its  introduction. 
They  were  interviewed  by  the  managing  director,  who  asked  what 
alternative  suggestion  they  could  make  for  increasing  output.  They 
answered  that  they  believed  they  could  easily  increase  their  output 

1  The  same  is  said  of  Pit-head  Committees — a  form  of  colliery  com- 
mittee to  ensure  increased  out-put. 

1  This  is  a  very  interestinj^  matter,  especially  in  view  of  the  argument 
in  the  report  of  the  N.W.  Commission  on  Industrial  Unrest,  that  joint 


342  managemp:nt  and  men 

if  they  lind  additional  equipment.  A  tf)oI  cataloj^e  was  put  before 
tlioni :  tliey  .sufjjf^ested  the  j>ur('lias(!  of  a  number  of  tools  eostin^^  in 
all  nearly  £'J,()()0.  Tlie  tools  weix'  bought,  and  the  output  was  in- 
creased by  50  per  cent,  without  dilution. 

The  range  of  functions  which  a  Works  Committee  can  efficiently 
undertake  is  necessarily  indellnite,  and  a  subject  of  contention  not 
only  between  employers  and  workpeople  but  also  between  different 
groups  both  of  employers  and  of  workpeople.  Some  of  the  ques- 
tions on  which  there  is  considerable  difference  of  opinion  may  be 
noted;  they  include  questions  affecting  promotion,  dismissal,  the 
suggestion  of  improved  processes,  lectures  and  education  in  trade 
technique,  and  works  discipline. 

The  question  of  alleged  wrongful  dismissal  is  already  handled  by 
the  Trade  Unions,  and  there  is  a  considerable  body  of  opinion 
among  both  workpeople  and  employers  that,  at  least  in  the  first 
instance,  it  is  a  suitable  function  for  a  Works  Cemmittee.  Dismissal 
for  such  a  reason  as  alleged  disobedience,  it  is  argued,  may  be  only 
a  cloak  for  victimization;  reasons  may  be  invented  by  a  foreman 
in  order  to  get  rid  of  particular  men.  The  claim  is  made  that  the 
other  workpeople  are  likely  to  understand  the  psychological  in- 
fluences underlying  such  action,  and  that  no  such  dismissal  should 
be  made  until  the  circumstances  have  been  discussed  with  the  Works 
Committee.  The  situation  in  which  slackness  of  work  compels  a 
considerable  reduction  in  the  number  of  employees  is  more  com- 
plicated; on  the  one  hand,  workpeople  complain  that  the  oppor- 
tunity is  used  by  certain  employers  to  get  rid  not  only  of  the  less 
efficient  employees  but  also  of  those  who  have  shown  themselves 
active  in  support  of  their  fellows — that  is,  to  cover  up  victimiza- 
tion; on  the  other  hand,  employers  complain  that  workpeople  are 
exclusively  biased  in  favor  of  the  claims  of  seniority,  and  make  little, 
if  any,  allowance  for  differences  in  efficiency.  There  would  ap- 
pear to  be  some  truth  in  both  contentions.  A  frank  discussion 
would  probably  tend  to  remove  the  causes  of  the  workpeople's  com- 
plaints and,  at  the  same  time,  to  produce  a  balance  between  the 

committees  of  employers  and  employed  would  administer  "industrial 
law"  better  than  legal  tribunals.  The  existence  of  a  number  of  Joint 
Committees  which  exercise  such  fimctions  has  been  mentioned.  The 
particular  interest  of  the  above  mentioned  Works'  Tribunal  is  that 
it  is  not  a  Joint  Committee  but  is  wholly  composed  of  workpeople. 
The  firm  has  no  status  in  the  court,  merely  appearing  by  its  repre- 
sentative as  it  would  in  the  Local  Munitions  Tribunal.  Procedure 
is  quite  formal,  and  the  firm's  representative  is  expected  to  address  the 
chairman  as  "Sir." 


APPENDIX  G  343 

claims  of  seniority  and  of  eflSciency  satisfactory  to  both  employers 
and  employees.  What  is  perhaps  even  more  important  is  a  further 
argument;  such  frank  discussion  would  lead  to  plans  for  the  allevia- 
tion in  the  particular  works  of  the  effects  of  a  general  slackness. 
It  is  not  contended  that  any  general  remedy  for  unemplojTnent  can 
be  found  on  these  lines;  all  that  is  suggested  is  that  local  and  in- 
dividual effort  may  help  to  solve  the  problem.  Dismissals  due  to 
the  introduction  of  new  machinery  or  new  methods  are  perhaps  of 
a  kind  with  which  a  Works  Committee  might  properly  deal.  Work- 
people are  ready  to  acknowledge  the  benefits  due  to  improvements 
and  yet  naturally  resent  such  improvements  where  they  involve  the 
destruction  of  their  craft  or  sudden  loss  of  employment.  It  may 
be  suggested  that  what  individual  employers  have  done  in  the  past — 
namely,  to  make  arrangements  by  which  the  dislocation  of  liveli- 
hood is  reduced — can  be  carried  out  more  generally;  and  that  in 
individual  establishments  adjustments  for  such  a  purpose  are  a  suit- 
able subject  for  discussion  by  a  Works  Committee.  It  is,  of  course, 
a  subject  of  vital  importance  to  the  Trade  Unions;  it  is  indeed  an 
aspect  of  the  process  of  dilution  as  seen  at  work  in  the  normal  in- 
dustrial conditions  of  peace  time.  Though  the  Trade  Unions  could 
not  be  expected  to  hand  the  matter  over  to  a  Works  Committee, 
there  appears  to  be  room  for  the  latter  to  deal  with  the  question 
within  certain  limits. 

The  appointment  of  foremen  is  a  question  on  which  there  may 
be  said  to  be  three  groups  of  opinions.  Many  employers  hold  that 
it  is  purely  a  management  question.  The  opposite  extreme  to  this 
is  the  claim  made  by  a  considerable  section  of  Trade  Unionists  that 
the  workmen  should  choose  their  own  foremen.  A  position  inter- 
mediate to  these  two  extremes  is  taken  up  by  a  certain  number  of 
employers  and  by  a  section  of  workpeople;  the  appointment  (they 
feel)  should  be  made  by  the  management,  but  it  should  be  submitted 
to  the  Works  Committee  before  it  becomes  effective.  Even  this  in- 
termediate position,  however,  is  not  really  a  common  position; 
there  are  differences  of  opinion  as  to  the  conditions  under  which 
the  appointment  should  come  before  the  Works  Committee — tliat  is 
to  say,  whether  or  no  the  Works  Committee  should  have  power  to 
veto  the  appointment.  Those  employers  who  are  prepared  to  sub- 
mit such  appointments  to  a  Works  Committee  are  for  the  most  part 
of  the  opinion  that  this  should  only  be  done  in  order  to  explain  the 
reasons  for  their  choice.  This,  they  hold,  will  tend  to  remove  ob- 
stacles which  might  otherwise  be  put  in  the  way  of  the  appointment. 
A  considerable  body  of  workpeople,  on  the  other  hand,  hold  an 
intermediate  position  which   comes  nearer  to  election  of  foremen 


344.  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

by  the  workpeople;  they  think  that  the  Works  Committee  should 
huvc  the  hj,'hl  to  veto  the  choice  made  by  the  management.  A  few 
employers  consider  that  this — or  even  direct  election — may  be  pos- 
sible when  a  Works  Committee,  through  the  experience  gained  in 
consultations  about  such  appointments,  has  learned  to  estimate  all 
the  qualities  necessary  in  a  foreman.  It  has  already  been  mentioned 
that  Works  Committees  very  often  discuss  the  conduct  of  foremen. 
The  conclusion  then  reached,  that  such  discussion  was  a  desirable 
function  for  a  committee,  would  appear  to  involve  as  a  corollary 
that  of  consultation  about  appointments.  This  latter  function 
would  tend  to  remove  the  necessity  for  the  former. ^ 

Among  tlie  results  expected  from  the  giving  of  a  larjier  measure 
of  responsibility  for  industrial  conditions  to  the  workpeople  is  a 
considerable  increase  in  efficiency.  This  is  said  to  be  possible  if 
the  ability  of  the  workpeople  to  suggest  improved  processes  and 
methods  is  properly  used.  The  experience  of  individual  firms  would 
appear  to  confirm  this  contention.  Many  firms  have  for  years  past 
had  awards  schemes  in  operation,  and  in  certain  cases  these  have 
stimulated  important  suggestions  for  improvements.  The  fact  that 
the  "suggestion  box"  is  often  stated  to  have  proved  a  failure  is  not 
necessarily  a  condemnation  of  the  idea;  it  may  only  mean  that  the 
somewhat  mechanical  and  uninspiring  device  is  in  itself  an  inade- 
quate stimulus.  A  comparison  of  the  results  secured  in  establish- 
ments more  or  less  similar  (so  far  as  work  is  concerned)  would 
suggest  that  the  success  of  an  awards  scheme  depends  to  a  great 
extent   upon   the  action   of  the  management.     Where  the  manage- 

1  This  question  of  promotion  has  been  discussed  in  one  aspect  only, 
viz.,  in  relation  to  the  appointment  of  foremen.  It  is,  of  course,  much 
more  general,  and  is  in  many  of  its  aspects  a  matter  of  agreement  be- 
tween Employers'  Associations  and  Trade  Unions.  Such  agreements 
may  regulate  progress  within  a  trade  or  a  group  of  connected  trades, 
and  necessarily  involve,  among  other  questions,  that  of  standard  rates 
of  wages.  The  discussion  of  promotion  in  tliis  wider  sense  of  the  term 
could  come  within  a  Works  Committee's  functions  only  where  the  Trade 
Unions  make  no  conditions  except  the  payment  of  standard  rates — and 
then  only  within  the  limits  of  this  condition.  The  promotion  to  fore- 
manship  may  be  said  to  be  distinct,  in  that  a  foreman  is  a  mcml)er  of 
the  management  staff,  and  directly  concerned  with  such  employer's  in- 
terests as  the  maintenance  of  discipline.  The  dividing  line,  however,  is 
not  well  defined  in  certain  cases,  and  the  fact  that  certain  Unions  which 
largely  control  promotions  among  the  men  paid  by  wages  have  also  or- 
ganized the  lower  grades  of  the  staff,  paid  by  salary  or  standing  wage, 
complicates  the  issue.  In  some  of  these  cases  certain  Unions  claim  the 
right  to  intervene. 


APPENDIX  G  345 

ment  gains  the  confidence  of  the  workpeople,  and  has  devised  meth- 
ods of  considering  suggestions  which  appeal  to  the  workpeople, 
there  is  a  much  more  powerful  response  than  in  works  where,  though 
there  may  be  a  suggestion  box,  these  conditions  are  absent.  Many 
employers  and  workpeople  agree  that  a  Works  Committee  may  not 
only  produce  the  atmosphere  necessary  to  the  stimulation  of  sug- 
gestions, but  may  also  help  to  arrange  for  the  proper  investigation 
of  proposals  made  by  workpeople.  In  this  connection,  as  in  the 
quite  different  field  of  grievances,  it  would  appear  to  be  important 
that  suggestions  which  look  to  be  worthless  should,  nevertlieless, 
be  considered.  To  put  the  matter  on  the  lowest  ground,  this  will 
probably  pay  in  the  long  run.  The  fundamental  matter  is  that 
everj^  one  should  be  encouraged  to  think  about  the  processes  and  the 
organization  of  the  works.  It  should  be  noted  that  workjieople 
very  commonly  complain  of  the  staff's  attitude  on  such  matters; 
any  suggestion,  they  say,  is  apt  to  be  brushed  aside  with  the  re- 
mark that  they  are  not  paid  to  think  but  to  work.  The  obstruction 
in  such  cases  may  be  a  foreman  or  manager,  and  even  though  the 
higher  management  may  be  sympathetic,  it  may  never  hear  of  a 
suggestion.  His  mates  also  are  sometimes  not  very  encouraging  to 
a  workman  with  ideas.  For  lack,  therefore,  of  encouragement,  or 
because  of  actual  discouragement,  ideas  of  value  are  held  back  and 
the  capacity  for  ideas  destroyed.  How  best  to  arrange  that  sug- 
gestions will  be  guaranteed  an  adequate  consideration  is  not  a  direct 
concern  of  this  report,  except  in  so  far  as  a  Works  Committee  may 
be  employed  for  the  purpose.  It  is  doubtful  whether  a  general 
Works  Committee  is  a  suitable  body  with  which  to  discuss  the  value 
of  a  change  in  a  particular  process  or  machine,  and  the  use  of  a 
small  sub-committee  for  this  jDurpose  may  be  suggested.  The  argu- 
ment has  been  used  that  a  man  will  place  his  ideas  before  two  or 
three  responsible  work-mates  for  their  criticism,  but  not  before  a 
big  committee.  If  the  small  committee  thought  the  proposal  sound, 
it  would  then  go  straight  to  the  higher  management.  For  more 
general  questions  of  organization,  as  distinct  from  questions  of  in- 
dividual methods  or  machines,  the  general  Works  Committee,  or  in 
large  works  a  Departmental  Committee,  would  probably  be  a  suit- 
able body.  Testimony  to  the  value  of  suggestions  made  by  both  of 
these  has  been  received  from  employers.  A  further  suggestion  with' 
a  direct  bearing  on  this  subject  has  been  made;  that  the  education 
which  certain  firms  provide  for  sections  of  their  staff,  such  as  fore- 
men and  underforemen,  might  be  extended  to  representative  work- 
people. This  may  take  the  form  of  educational  lectures,  wliich  will 
widen  the  outlook  of  the  specialized  worker  by  showing  him  how 


346  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

his  own  activities  fit  into  those  of  others  and  into  the  general  phin 
of  the  establishment's  activities. ^ 

The  attitude  to  a  Works  Committee's  assumption  of  responsibility 
for  discipline  varies  very  considerably,  both  among  employers  and 
among  workpeople.  There  is  a  considerable  body  of  experience, 
and  it  would  appear  that,  though  there  are  examples  to  the  con- 
trary, Works  Committees  which  undertake  disciplinary  functions 
usually  do  so  with  success.  There  is,  at  the  same  time,  a  very  gen- 
eral demand  among  workpeople  that,  if  Joint  Committees  are  to 
discuss  the  l)ad  timekeeping  and  other  mistakes  of  the  employees, 
they  should  have  similar  powers  of  dealing  with  faults  on  the  side 
of  the  management.  In  a  number  of  establishments  committees  regu- 
late fines  or  deductions  made  from  bonus  because  of  lost-time,  negli- 
gence, damage  or  other  cause. 

A  note  of  caution  may  be  added.  There  is  some  evidence  that 
a  small  minority  of  employers  may  endeavor  to  use  a  Works  Com- 
mittee in  order  more  easily  to  impose  penal  conditions  which  are 
objected  to  by  the  main  body  of  workpeople.  This  is  opposed  to  the 
whole  spirit  which  makes  a  Works  Committee  a  success,  and  is 
bound  to  produce  friction.  A  somewhat  similar  attitude  is  taken 
up  by  a  small  minority  of  workpeople  who  appear  to  desire  that 
no  joint  meetings  should  be  held  in  an  orderly  or  businesslike  man- 
ner. 

It  may  be  added  in  conclusion  of  this  section,  that  the  opinion, 
and  indeed  the  practice,  of  a  number  of  firms  inclines  in  the  direc- 
tion of  ad  hoc  committees.  It  is  held  that  this  enables  the  firm  to 
consult  the  men  who  are  directly  concerned,  and  that  it  has  the  ad- 
ditional advantage  of  giving  greater  reality  to  the  consultation. 
When  consultation  takes  place  on  an  immediate  and  definite  issue, 
it  is  said  to  result  in  practical  and  useful  discussion ;  and  the  fear  is 
expressed  that  consultation,  in  the  absence  of  such  an  issue,  may 
only  be  an  empty  form.  The  inclusion  in  such  committees  of  the 
shop  stewards  who  represent  the  classes  of  men  concerned — as  is 
often  tlie  case — gives  a  direct  connection  with  the  Trade  Union  or 
Unions  whose  standard  may  be  affected. 

VI. — RELATIONS    WITH    TRADE   UNIONS 

Something  has  already  been  said  in  the  sections  dealing  with  the 
constitution,  procedure  and  functions  of  Works  Committees,  con- 
cerning the  relations   between   such   committees  and   Trade   Union 

1  Another  interesting  feature  in  this  connection  is  the  development  of 
Works  Magazines. 


APPENDIX  G  347 

organization.  The  position  is  in  certain  respects  somewhat  para- 
doxical; the  problem  as  seen  by  most  Trade  Unionists  is  that  of 
strengthening  the  Trade  Union  organization  in  the  workshop,  but, 
on  the  one  hand,  many  employers  prefer  not  to  deal  with  the  shop 
stewards  in  the  works  but  with  the  outside  Trade  Union  organiza- 
tion, and,  on  the  other  hand,  some  elements  in  Trade  Unionism  pre- 
fer that  it  should  stand  outside  the  workshop  and  handle  questions 
in  each  works  from  the  outside,  while  some  unionist  shop  stewards 
consider  that  their  Works  Committees  should  not  be  subject  to  any 
control  of  the  Trade  Unions.  The  general  question  of  the  relation 
and  the  relative  weight  and  power  of  Works  Committees  and  district 
organization  is  one  which  is  likely  to  be  settled  gradually  in  ex- 
perience and  actual  working.  Here  it  may  be  convenient  to  draw 
attention  to  some  considerations  which  appear  to  affect  this  general 
question,  particularly  as  seen  in  the  engineering  industry. 

The  first  consideration  is  that  the  change  in  the  conditions  of 
working  have  made  necessary  the  development  of  new  machinery 
for  collective  bargaining.  Since  the  questions  for  which  this  ma- 
chinery is  required  are,  to  a  great  extent,  peculiar  to  individual 
establishments,  the  collective  bargaining,  if  it  is  to  be  done  at  all, 
must  be  carried  through  in  each  establishment.  At  the  same  time, 
unless  the  results  are  to  impair  the  standard  conditions  which  it  is 
the  business  of  the  Unions  to  uphold,  the  work  must  be  entrusted 
to  representatives  of  the  Unions.  Thus  there  has  come  about  a 
natural  development  in  the  functions  of  the  shop  stewards.  Previ- 
ously they  had  to  see  that  no  encroachments  were  made  on  standard 
conditions;  now  they  may  have  the  more  positive  duty  of  partici- 
pating in  the  settlement  of  piece-work  prices  in  terms  of  these 
standard  conditions.! 

In  regard  to  the  changes  just  mentioned,  and  in  regard  also  to 
dilution,  the  interests  of  the  work  people  belonging  to  different 
skilled  Unions  are  more  or  less  the  same.  This,  combined  with  the 
natural  community  in  the  works,  probably  accounts  for  the  fact 
that  certain  apparent  difficulties  of  representation  are,  as  a  rule, 
easily  overcome.  The  impossibility  of  so  representing  different 
Unions  on  a  Works  Committee  that  satisfaction  is  secured  to  all  is 
alleged  to  be  such  a  difficulty.  So  far  as  the  skilled  trades  are  con- 
cerned— at  least  in   engineering — the   difficulty   would   not   appear 

1  The  appointment  by  the  men  of  a  separate  rate  fixer,  whose  business 
it  would  be  to  arrange  piece  prices  with  the  firm's  rate  fixer,  is  a  sug- 
orested  development  towards  which  a  movement  is  being  made  in  one  or 
two  firms.  In  one  large  establishment,  such  a  duplication  is  suggested 
by  one  of  the  firm's  rate  fixers  as  a  very  desirable  arrangement. 


848  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

to  be  serious.  In  muny  cases  where  even  a  small  minority  only  of 
the  skilled  Unions  have  direct  representation  there  would  appear  to  be 
no   dissatisi'aetion. 

As  between  the  members  of  skilled  and  unskilled  Unions  the  posi- 
tion is  more  dilHcult.  There  are  several  cases  of  two  separate 
Committees  of  Shop  Stewards — one  representing  the  skilled  and  the 
otlier  unskilled  and  semi-skilled  men — in  the  same  works.  In  other 
establishments,  however,  skilled  and  unskilled  men  vote  for  the 
same  committee  and  act  together  as  members.  This  would  appear 
to  be  the  most  desirable  arrangement.  The  case,  however,  in  which 
a  minority  of  unskilled  men  in  each  department  is  represented  on 
a  Works  Committeee  by  a  skilled  unionist  is  not  exactly  on  a  par 
with  that  in  which  a  minority  belonging  to  an  unskilled  Union  is 
so  represented.  Apart  from  the  fact  that  unskilled  men  are  more 
likely  to  be  distributed  through  all  the  departments,  .so  tiiat  though 
in  a  minority  they  form  a  considerable  pnjportion  of  the  total  num- 
ber of  employees,  there  is  the  further  consideration  that  the  similar- 
ity of  interest  and  the  community  of  feeling  are  not  so  pronounced. 
In  many  establishments  the  difficulty  has  apparently  been  sur- 
mounted; but  in  a  number  of  others  it  is  still  a  serious  problem. 
The  problem  would  appear  to  be  one  which  cannot  be  settled  by  the 
men  in  each  establishment — though  they  may  provide  valuable  sug- 
gestions— and  it  must  probably  be  left  for  the  Trade  Unions  con- 
cerned to  come  to  some  agreement  on  the  matter.  For  this  reason 
a  certain  number  of  workpeople,  both  skilled  and  unskilled,  con- 
sider that  in  cases  where  the  difficulty  is  acute  the  policy  of  two 
committees  is  the  best  present  working  arrangement.  The  defects 
of  such  a  system  are  perhaps  too  obvious  to  require  particular  men- 
tion. It  may,  however,  be  noted  that  the  system  obstructs  very 
considerably  that  joint  consideration  of  common  interests  and  de- 
sires, to  find  expression  for  which  is  one  of  the  main  purposes  of  a 
Works  Committee.  It  tends  instead  to  concentrate  the  attention  of 
each  committee  upon  points  of  divergence  of  interest. 

The  coming  together  into  one  committee  of  shop  stewards  re- 
sponsible to  different  Trade  Unions  raises  a  number  of  questions. 
It  is  true  that  the  rules  by  which  Unions  define  the  functions  of 
their  shop  stewards  are  fairly  uniform,  and  so  long  as  a  Works 
Committee  respects  the  rules  of  the  different  Unions  there  is  little 
fear  of  overlapping  or  confusion  in  functions.  The  general  rule 
which  determines  the  functions  of  a  Works  Committee  in  relation 
to  Trade  Union  organization  has  already  been  mentioned.  As  is 
said  in  the  case  of  one  Committee,  "The  Committee  regard  questions 
of  general  application,  relating  to  rates  of  wages,  hours  of  work  or 


APPENDIX  G  349 

otherwise,  which  affect  'district  conditions/  as  beyond  their  juris- 
diction. There  is  no  formal  rule  to  this  effect;  but  this  limitation 
of  the  Committee's  power  is  well  understood,  and  no  difficulties  have 
arisen." 

It  is  thus  the  rule  that  general  questions  of  district  or  national 
conditions  are  left  to  the  Trade  Unions,  while  the  Works  Committee 
deals  with  either  the  detailed  application  of  these  general  rules 
within  the  works  or  with  questions  entirely  peculiar  to  the  works. 
On  the  whole,  the  information  which  is  available  would  suggest 
that  the  division  of  jurisdiction  is  well  understood  and  closely  fol- 
lowed.    There  are,  however,  certain  difficulties. 

In  the  first  place  there  is  evidence  of  uncertainty  as  to  whether  or 
not  a  Works  Committee  should  undertake  certain  functions;  mat- 
ters may  sometimes  seem  from  one  point  of  view  to  be  "branch"  or 
"district"  business,  and  from  another  to  be  "works"  busi- 
ness. A  tool-room  bonus,  for  instance,  may  be  arranged  in  a 
works  between  a  committee  and  the  works  manager,  and  they 
may  agree  in  regarding  it  as  a  works  affair,  while  the  local 
branch  (or  district  committee)  of  the  Union  concerned  may  consider 
that  it  is  a  question  of  wages  which  demands  their  sanction.  In 
view  of  the  variety  and  complexity  of  bonus  schemes  which  have 
been  instituted  in  munitions  factories,  and  of  the  possible  reactions 
of  these  upon  standard  rates,  there  would  appear  to  be  some  need 
for  careful  definition  of  a  Works  Committee's  functions  in  this  field. 

There  is  some  evidence  also  of  actual  conflict  of  authority.  Such 
cases,  however,  would  appear  to  have  been  given  an  altogether  dis- 
proportionate prominence  in  public  discussion,  to  the  detriment  of 
those  whose  main  desire  is  to  create  a  constitutional  machinery 
suited  to  new  and  rapidly  changing  conditions.  In  a  few  instances, 
however,  a  Works  Committee  would  appear  to  have  been  in  doubt 
as  to  whether  it  was  an  independent  organization  or  one  subject  to 
Trade  Union  control.  Thus,  a  Works  Committee  wholly  composed 
of  Trade  Union  stewards  has  made  a  demand  for  an  advance  in 
wages  to  which,  under  an  alternative  agreement  made  by  the  Trade 
Unions,  the  workmen  represented  by  it  had  no  claim.  In  one  or 
two  cases  representations  have  been  made  to  Government  Depart- 
ments for  advances  in  wages  and  improvements  in  other  working 
conditions  in  individual  works,  independently  of  district  or  national 
machinery,  though  the  works  in  question  were  known  to  recognize 
district  standards. 

It  would  appear  that  the  uncertainty  as  to  the  real  position  and 
powers  of  a  Works  Committee  in  relation  to  the  Trade  Unions  is, 
at  least  in  the  engineering  industry,  to  some  extent  due  to  the  fact 


350  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

I  hat  the  various  uiemhers  of  a  committee  may  be  responsible  to  many 
different  Unions.  Though,  therefore,  the  Works  Committee  may 
aspire  to  be  a  unit  of  government,  this  is  rendered  diilicult  in  view 
of  the  different  and  possibly  conllicting  autiiurities  from  which  the 
members  obtain  their  status.  One  suggested  scheme  proposes  to 
overcome  this  particular  dilliculty  so  far  at  least  as  the  Unions  of 
skilled  men  are  concerned.  It  would  liring  the  committees  in  the 
various  establishments  under  the  district  Engineering  Trades  Joint 
Committee,  and  confine  membership  of  any  committee  to  those  or- 
ganized in  the  Trade  Unions  affiliated  to  the  district  committee. 
This  question  of  the  relationship  of  works  to  district  committees  is 
interesting  also  in  view  of  the  proposals  contained  in  the  Whitley 
Report.  That  Report  advocates  Joint  National  and  District  Coun- 
cils and  Works  Committees;  and  the  problem  of  the  relations  of  the 
District  Council  and  the  Works  Committee  and  their  relative  func- 
tions is  one  which  will  need  to  be  investigated  when  measures  are 
being  adopted  to  institute  such  Councils. 

The  need  for  this  consideration  of  relationships  between  Works 
Committees  and  the  district  Trade  Union  organization  would  ap- 
pear to  be  more  necessary  in  certain  industries  than  in  others.  It 
would  appear,  for  instance,  that  in  the  iron  and  steel  industry  the 
fact  that  members  in  one  works  commonly  form  a  branch  of  their 
Union,  and  that  the  secretaries  of  branches  are  usually — it  may  be  in 
virtue  of  the  office  they  hold — members  of  the  Works  Committee, 
makes  the  problem  of  inter-relations  less  difficult,  at  least  for  those 
Unions  which  are  organized  on  the  basis  of  works. 

A  point  of  procedure  may  be  noticed.  It  is  sometimes  the  ease 
that  a  Trade  Union  official  accompanies  the  representatives  of  the 
Works  Committee  in  an  interview  with  the  management;  or,  again, 
a  Trade  Union  official  may  attend  the  deliberations  of  a  Joint  Com- 
mittee if  the  men  so  desire.^  But  this  apparently  is  exceptional; 
and,  as  a  rule,  a  Works  Committee  acts  by  itself,  and  refers  to 
Trade  Union  officials  questions  which  are  too  large  or  too  ditfieult 
to  be  settled  in  the  works.  It  should,  however,  be  noted  that  many 
trade  unionists  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  right  of  the  Trade  Union 
officials  to  attend  committee  meetings  (or  to  inspect  the  minutes  of 
a  committee)  is  a  necessary  condition  of  the  satisfactory  solution 
of  the  question  of  inter-relations. 

Two  other  questions  which  are  involved  in  this  problem  of  the 

1  It  may  also  be  noted  that  officials  of  the  various  Unions  were  mem- 
bers of  the  workmen's  side  of  the  Joint  Committee  formed  in  connection 
with  a  profit-sharing  scheme  instituted  before  the  war  by  a  well-known 
shipbuilding  firm  in  a  northern  town. 


APPENDIX  G  351 

inter-relations  of  Works  Committees  and  Trade  Unions  call  for 
notice. 

The  first  relates  to  the  victimization  of  men  who  show  them- 
selves active  as  shop  stewards  or  as  members  of  a  Works  Commit- 
tee. It  is  impossible  to  estimate  to  what  extent  such  victimization 
actually  occurs,  and  this  is  partly  due  to  the  diflBculty  of  defining 
what  victimization  is.  Workmen  complain  not  only  of  victimization, 
but  also  of  the  difficulty  of  bringing  the  charge  home  even  when 
(they  state)  they  have  no  doubt  about  the  facts.  For  this  reason 
many  of  them  hold  the  view  that^  unless  the  Works  Committee  is 
properly  related  to  and  protected  by  Trade  Unions,  it  cannot  hope — 
in  certain  establishments  at  least — to  discuss  questions  before  the 
management  with  that  sense  of  freedom  which  is  essential  to  the 
success  of  joint  deliberations.  In  this  connection  it  may  be  noted 
that  one  of  two  reasons  given  for  the  short  terms  of  office  of  the 
shop  stewards  and  secretaries  of  committees  in  one  industry  (one 
and  three  months  respectively)  was  the  fear  of  victimization.  The 
other  reason — in  this  the  Works  Committee  appears  to  revert  to 
the  early  forms  of  conducting  the  business  of  Trade  Union  branches 
— was  stated  to  be  the  desire  that  every  one  should  take  his  share 
of  office. 

The  other  question  relates  to  the  allegations  made  by  certain 
Trade  Unionists  that  certain  employers — more  particularly  in  one 
or  two  industries — are  fostering  the  growth  of  Works  Committees 
in  order  to  destroy  Trade  Union  influence  in  their  works.  The 
danger,  it  is  said,  from  the  point  of  view  of  Trade  Unionism  is 
exactly  the  same  as  that  which  is  believed  to  result  from  profit- 
sharing,  viz.,  that  the  workman  is  detached  from  his  fellows  and 
his  power  to  obtain  certain  standard  conditions  is  consequently 
weakened.  The  further  charge  has  been  made,  in  regard  to  one  or 
two  industries,  that  the  employers  were  proposing,  in  the  name  of 
the  Whitley  Report,  to  form  Works  Committees  without  connection 
with  the  Unions,  and  from  these  committees  to  build  up  District 
and  National  Councils  representative  of  employers  and  emphij'^ed. 
It  must,  however,  be  emphasized  that  any  such  action  is  directly 
opposed  to  the  proposals  of  the  Whitley  Report.  These  proposals 
look  to  the  control  of  Works  Committees  bj'  National  or  District 
Councils  which,  on  the  workpeople's  side,  would  be  representative 
of  Trade  Unions  only;  and,  in  order  that  Works  Committees  should 
be  formed  on  lines  satisfactory  to  the  national  organizations,  the 
Report  proposes  that  the  formation  of  Works  Committees  should, 
as  far  as  possible,  follow,  and  not  precede,  that  of  the  National  and 
District  Councils.     A  logical  application  of  this  order  of  procedure 


362  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

niiiy  be  impossible,  l)ut  wherever  individual  employers  find  it  de- 
sirable to  form  Works  Committees  before  National  or  District  Coun- 
cils are  instituted,  the  idea  of  the  Whitley  Report  may  be  so  far 
follovi'ed  that  such  proposals  should  be  brought  before  the  Trade 
Unions  concerned,  and  they  should  be  asked  to  share  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Works  Committee. 

VII. — GENERAL   CONSIDERATIONS 

The  applicability  of  Works  Committees  to  different  industries 
is  a  matter  of  importance.  During  the  war  the  discussion  of  them 
has  been  associated  most  generally  with  the  engineering  industry, 
and  it  is  probably  in  that  industry  that,  for  reasons  already  stated, 
their  development  during  the  war  has  been  most  rapid.  This  de- 
velopment, however,  has  by  no  means  been  confined  to  engineering; 
and  in  certain  other  industries,  for  example,  iron  and  steel  works, 
there  has  been  a  marked  increase.  If  we  consider  pre-war  experi- 
ences, and  include  not  only  general  committees  formed  for  special 
purposes,  but  also  section  committees,  it  would  appear  that  an  in- 
dustry in  which  committees  had  not  been  in  existence  at  some  time  or 
other  would  prove  the  exception  rather  than  the  rule.  In  this  con- 
nection one  may  note  that  in  establishments  in  the  distributive  trades 
several  committees  have  been  formed  to  help  in  the  running  of  profit- 
sharing  schemes.  It  may  also  be  noted  that  during  the  war  one 
very  large  estal)lishment  has  seen  the  development  not  only  of 
separate  Committees  of  Shop  Stewards,  representing  the  skilled  and 
unskilled  sections  of  engineering  respectively,  but  of  at  least  two 
other  committees  constituted  on  more  or  less  similar  lines.  One  of 
these  is  composed  of  shop  stewards  from  the  building  trades,  and 
the  other  of  delegates  from  the  clerks  engaged  in  the  various  de- 
partments. The  works  in  question  is  exceptional,  not  only  in  size 
but  in  certain  other  respects,  so  that  it  cannot  very  well  be  taken  as 
an  example.  The  specific  representation  of  the  building  trades  may, 
however,  be  put  alongside  the  previously  mentioned  examples  of 
informal  committees  constituted  on  big  works  of  building  construc- 
tion. It  may  also  be  argued  that  if  a  committee  is  desirable  in  a 
distributive  trading  establislmient  for  the  administration  of  a  bonus 
scheme,  the  same  form  of  organization  may  be  useful  for  other 
general  purposes.  It  may  further  be  argued — and  it  is  so  argued 
by  some — that  a  Works  Committee  is  desirable  in  any  establish- 
ment in  which  more  than  a  certain  number  of  people  are  employed. 
Whether  the  organization  is  either  necessary  or  desirable  in  every 
or  nearly  every  kind  of  establishment  is  a  question  which  the  future 
must  solve.     Here  it  may  be  noted  that  at  present  considerations 


APPENDIX  G  353 

almost  diametrically  opposite  to  one  another  appear  to  determine 
the  general  absence  of  committees  from  different  groups  of  indus- 
tries; in  some  this  would  appear  to  be  due  to  the  absence  or  the 
weakness  of  Trade  Union  organization,  while  in  others  the  strength 
of  Trade  Union  organization  makes  Works  Committees  unnecessary 
for  the  purposes  which  call  them  into  existence  in  a  number  of 
industries. 

The  cotton  industry  is  a  case  in  point.  Here  the  contiguity  of 
the  mills,  and  the  fact  that  conditions  are  so  uniform  that  district 
piece-lists  are  practicable,  ensure  that  the  strong  district  organiza- 
tion (with  its  permanent  secretary  on  both  sides  and  its  district 
committee  on  both  sides)  is  adequate  to  those  needs  which  in  en- 
gineering, for  instance,  have  produced  the  demand  for  a  works 
organization.  The  same  problem  of  wages  has  necessitated  in  other 
industries,  e.g.,  certain  of  those  coming  under  the  Trade  Boards 
Acts,  direct  State-enforcement  of  piece-rates.  Though  for  this 
purpose  a  Works  Committee  may  be  unnecessary  or  undesirable  in 
both  groups  of  industries,  it  may  be  that  other  purposes  will  pro- 
duce a  similar  form  of  organization.  It  would  appear  that  most 
of  the  needs  to  which  reference  has  been  made  in  this  report  are 
not  quite  peculiar  to  any  one  type  of  industrial  establishment,  but 
more  or  less  common  to  all.  Questions  of  foremanship  may  be  given 
as  one  instance.  Welfare  is  another;  very  many  matters  can  be 
brought  under  its  scope,  and  it  seems  likely  that  in  future  Works 
Committees  will  come  to  play  a  greater  part  in  their  administration. ^ 

It  may  be  suggested  that  the  size  of  the  works  concerned  is  a  fac- 
tor of  importance  in  any  discussion  of  the  range  of  application  of 
a  system  of  Works  Committees.  It  is  sometimes  urged  that  Works 
Committees  are  only  valuable  in  large  works,  in  which  the  work- 
men number  3,000  or  uj^wards.  It  is  certainly  true  that  the  larger 
the  works,  the  greater  the  help  which  a  Works  Committee  can  give 
in  putting  the  higher  ranks  of  the  management  in  touch  witli  the 
feelings  and  needs  of  the  men.  In  a  small  works  the  manager  will 
probably  be  able  to  familiarize  himself  with  every  detail  of  the 
work,  and  he  will  be  brought  into  contact  with  nearly  every  work- 
man. He  may  feel  that  he  is  already  in  close  touch  with  the  men, 
and  that  a  Works  Committee  cannot  make  the  touch  closer.  Even 
here,  however,  a  Works  Committee  is  likely  to  help.     It  will  enable 

'  1  Since  the  above  paragraph  was  written  a  movement  to  bring  the 
union  organization  "more  closely  into  relationship  with  the  conditions 
iu  individual  cotton  mills  has  produced  a  scheme  in  the  Oldham  district. 
The  proposal  is  to  make  shop  (or  mill)  clubs  an  integral  part  of  the 
district  union,  to  deal  with  shop  grievances,  etc. 


354  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

the  nijina.iiement  to  discuss  matters  not  with  isolated  individuals, 
but  witii  the  accredited  representatives  of"  the  whole  body  of  the 
men,  and  it  may  helj)  to  bring  to  light  difliculties,  needs,  feelings 
and  defects  which  might  otherwise  have  remained  concealed.  A 
Works  (,'ommittee  may  tiius  serve  not  to  supplant,  but  to  supple- 
ment, the  advantages  of  personal  touch,  even  in  small  establish- 
ments; while  in  large  establishments,  where  personal  contact  is  not 
so  easy,  the  help  which  it  may  give  is  obvious.  In  any  case  it  should 
be  remarked  that  committees  are  to  be  found  in  works  of  very  dif- 
ferent sizes.  One  committee  is  concerned  with  workers  in  a  single 
establishment  to  the  number  of  10,000  men;  many  are  to  be  found 
in  works  in  which  the  workmen  number  about  3,000;  a  number  exist 
in  works  employing  about  100  workmen. 

To  this  may  be  added  the  expression  of  opinion  of  the  owner 
and  manager  of  a  small  printing  office  where  the  compositors'  chapel 
(there  is  only  the  one  chapel  in  the  office)  has  at  present  only  ten 
members.  He  is  in  direct  contact  with  each  of  the  men;  but  he 
has  found  it  advantageous  in  the  past  to  have  the  father  of  the 
chapel  and  one  or  two  of  the  other  compositors  together  "for  a  talk 
over  tea."  This,  it  may  be  said,  is  done  in  many  small  businesses. 
It  may,  however,  be  worth  while  to  consider  the  advisability  of 
putting  such  discussion  on  a  regular  footing  even  in  small  busi- 
nesses. In  the  instance  mentioned  the  employer  proposes  to  make 
a  trial  of  regular  discussions.  Probably  the  only  generalization  one 
can  safely  make  about  the  need  for  Works  Committees  in  relation 
to  the  size  of  the  establishments  is  that  the  need  increases  with  the 
size. 

There  remain  two  points  of  importance.  One  is  the  question  of 
the  practical  success  of  Works  Committees;  the  other  the  impor- 
tance from  that  point  of  view  of  the  human  factor. 

As  regards  the  first  question,  evidence  is  forthcoming  from  all 
parts  of  the  country — the  Clyde,  the  T^•ne,  the  Midlands,  the  Bris- 
tol, Manchester,  Yorkshire,  and  London  districts.  As  regards  the 
second,  this  much  is  clear:  success  depends  to  a  great  extent  on  the 
existence  of  a  spirit  of  counsel  and  understanding  on  both  sides.  If 
"the  management  door  stands  open"  to  all  legitimate  grievances, 
and  if  the  men  are  ready  to  present  their  grievances  and  to  take 
into  consideration  the  difficulties  of  the  management,  the  fundamental 
conditions  are  present.  Much  will  always  depend  on  the  person- 
alities concerned.  Every  human  institution  reqriires  for  its  suc- 
cess the  guidance  of  personalities.  A  Works  Committee  requires 
for  its  chairman  or  secretary — or,  at  any  rate,  one  may  say,  ideally 
requires  for  its  chairman  or  secretary — a  man  of  personality,  trusted 


APPENDIX  G  355 

by  his  fellow- workmen,  respected  by  the  management,  with  the 
spirit  of  service,  and  ready,  in  that  spirit,  to  give  his  services  freely 
in  the  cause  of  his  committee.  It  requires  no  less  a  sympathetic 
and  capable  management,  ready  to  listen,  ready  to  weigh  carefully, 
ready  to  take  pains  in  discussion,  and  prepared  to  persuade  and 
to  be  persuaded.  It  is  one  of  the  most  encouraging  signs  of  the 
times  that  on  both  sides  such  men  have  been  found,  and  that,  both 
among  the  management  and  the  men,  personalities  have  emerged 
to  meet  the  needs  of  the  institution. 

Works  Committees  mean  discussion;  discussion  takes  time;  and 
from  this  point  of  view  it  is  sometimes  argued  that  a  Works  Com- 
mittee may  tend  to  slow  down  the  pace  of  industry;  and,  again, 
that  it  may  be  difficult  to  convince  a  committee  of  the  value  and 
the  feasibility  of  a  new  idea  or  process,  so  that  the  way  of  innova- 
tion may  be  somewhat  impeded.  These,  however,  are  theoretical 
objections.  In  practice  Works  Committees — the  evidence  would 
suggest — have  improved  timekeeping  and  increased  output,  and  in 
that  way  they  have  accelerated  rather  than  impeded  the  pace  of 
industry.  In  practice,  again,  they  have  been  the  opposite  of  con- 
servative, and  instead  of  checking  change  they  have  themselves  sug- 
gested change.  And  even  if  they  made  the  pace  slower,  or  change 
more  difficult,  they  have  advantages  that  would  compensate,  and 
more  than  compensate,  for  these  defects.  They  make  for  better 
relations  and  greater  harmony,  and  these  are  the  things  that  matter 
most  to  industry.  More  time  is  gained  by  the  absence  of  disputes 
than  is  lost  by  the  presence  of  discussion;  more  improvements  can 
be  introduced  in  an  atmosphere  of  harmony  that  can  possibly  be 
introduced  in  an  atmosphere  of  suspicion. 

That  Works  Committees  have,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases, 
tended  to  introduce  greater  harmony,  and,  through  it,  greater  effi- 
ciency, is  proved  by  the  evidence  of  those  concerned  in  their  work- 
ing. It  is  not  denied  that  in  some  cases  (though  these  are  very  few) 
Works  Committees  have  failed.  A  few  cases  of  such  failure  have 
been  noted  in  committees  instituted  during  the  war  for  general  pur- 
poses. In  one  of  these  the  failure  was  perhaps  due  mainly  to 
defects  of  machinery,  and  it  is  stated  that  the  Works  Committee 
may  be  resuscitated;  in  another  the  failure  was  due  to  deep-seated 
causes,  which  made  success  impossible,  and  the  failure  reflects  no 
discredit  on  the  institution.  In  almost  every  case,  however,  the 
testimony  is  to  the  opposite  effect.  Sometimes  introduced  with 
difficulty  and  amid  suspicion,  committees  have  established  them- 
selves and  done  service  which  is  acknowledged  even  by  their  orig- 
inal   opponents.     By   providing   a   channel    for   the   ventilation    of 


,'}56  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

grievances  at  an  early  stage,  and  before  they  become  acute,  they 
have  prevented  disputes  and  strikes,  and  tliey  have  improved  time- 
keeping and  increased  output.  Nor  is  tliis  all.  The  functions  of 
Works  Committees  are  not  merely  concerned  with  bringing  griev- 
ances before  the  management,  but  also  with  a  preliminary  enquiry 
into  grievances,  in  order  to  decide  whether  they  are  well-grounded 
and  serious  enough  to  be  brought  before  the  management.  The 
work  which  they  do  in  this  preliminary  stage  is  not  the  least  valu- 
able part  of  their  work,  and,  far  from  hampering  the  management, 
it  obviously  does  tlie  reverse  and  relieves  the  management  of  diffi- 
culties and  grievances  it  would  otherwise  have  to  face.  Grievances 
are  either  nipped  in  tlie  bud  by  being  shown,  upon  discussion  in 
committee,  to  be  unfounded,  or  they  are  settled  in  discussion  be- 
tween the  secretary  of  the  committee  and  the  foreman  or  head  of 
the  department,  and  in  either  case  they  never  come  to  the  main  man- 
agement. When  grievances  cannot  be  settled  in  this  way — since, 
for  example,  they  may  involve  the  head  of  a  department  directly — 
there  remains  the  possibility  of  access  to  the  main  management. 
The  necessity  for  this  has  been  emphasized  by  both  representative 
employers  and  representative  workmen;  and  upon  it,  so  far  as  can 
be  judged,  depends  not  only  the  removal  of  grievances,  but  (what 
is  still  more  important)  that  really  suggestive  and  constructive 
work  which  the  signatories  to  the  Whitley  Report  had  in  mind  in 
recommending  that  workpeople  should  be  given  a  larger  voice  in 
determining  industrial  conditions. 

In  more  than  one  works  the  summary  of  opinion  on  a  Works 
Committee — and  that  not  on  one  side  only,  but  on  both — has  been 
expressed  in  the  phrase,  "This  is  the  best  thing  that  has  ever  hap- 
pened in  the  shop."  Such  a  summary  could  not  be  given  if  ex- 
perience had  not  proved  that  a  Works  Committee  was  more  than 
a  piece  of  machinery  and  something  different  from  the  old  methods 
of  industrial  conciliation.  It  means  that  a  Works  Committee  is  felt 
to  be  something  vital  and  something  new — something  that  enlists  the 
workers  in  real  participation,  and  something  that  offers  fresh  prom- 
ise for  the  future. 

APPENDIX  I 

for 

Works  Committees  Report 

questionnaire 
1.  Origin. 

When  did  the  Committee  come  into  existence? 
(b)  Under  what  circumstances  did  it  arise? 


APPENDIX  G  357 

(c)  What  procedure  was  adopted  to  put  the  proposal  of  a  Com- 
mittee before  the  employees  (or  management  where  the 
initiative  came  from  the  employees),  and  draft  a  con- 
stitution? 

Constitution. 
(a)   Is  there  one  Committee  only,  or  more  than  one? 
If  more  than  one  what  are  their  relations,  if  any? 
In  the  case  of  each : —    • 
(6)   Is  it  a  joint  committee,  representative  of  management  and 

employees,  or  a  committee  of  emploj^ees  alone? 
(c)   In  the  latter  case  what  arrangements  exist  for  meeting  the 

management? 
{d)  In  the  former  case  does   the  workers'   side  constitute   a 
separate  committee,  meeting  apart  from  the  joint  com- 
mittee? 
(e)   How     are    the    workers'     representatives    chosen?     What 
classes,   grades   of   workers,   or   departments   are   repre- 
sented   and    in    what    proportion?     Are    any    classes    of 
workers  not  represented? 
(/)   What  representation,  if  any,  have  Trade  Unions,  as  such, 
on  the  Committee? 

i.  Is  the  whole  or  any  part  of  the  membership  of  the 

Committee  confined  to  Trade  Unionists? 
ii.  Has  any  Union  any  part  in  the  appointment  of 

members  ? 
iii.  Is  any  full-time  Trade  Union  official  admitted  to 
sit  with  the  Committee,  and  if  so,  in  what  ca- 
pacity ? 
iv.  What  is  the   relation    (if  any)    of  the  Committee 
to  the  Trade  Union  stewards  or  delegates  in  the 
works  ? 
{g)   How  are  the  representatives  of  the  management  appointed? 
(fe)  What  officers  has  the   Committee,  and  how  are  they  ap- 
pointed ? 
[i]   What  changes  in  the  constitution   of  the  Committee  have 
been  made  since  the  establishment  of  the  Committee,  and 
for  what  reasons? 
(j)  What  changes  in  the  constitution  are  desired  by  either  side, 
and  for  what  reasons? 
What  are  the  Functions  of  the  Committee? 
(a)       i.  Wages  questions — 

Piece  prices.     Bonus  times. 


358  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Allocation  of  collective  bonus. 
Application  of  wage  orders,  &c. 
ii.  Working  hours — 
"Clocking." 
Breaks.     Shifts. 
iii.  Allocation  of  work — 

Piece  and  time.     Demarcation. 
Dilution. 

Overtime.     Short  time. 
iv.  Works  organization — 

Suggestion  of  improvements. 
Discussion  of  proposed  innovations. 
Place  of  apprentices. 
V.  Discipline — 

Timekeeping.     Language. 
Methods  of  foremen. 
vi.  Disputes — 

Discussion  of  complaints. 
Settlement   of  differences, 
vii.  Welfare — 

Canteen    management.     Rest   periods. 
Sanitation. 
Works  amenities. 
viii.  Any  other  functions — 

(It  is  desirable  to  make  the  list  of  functions 
as  comprehensive  as  possible  for  the  purpose  of 
comparison.) 
(&)  Are  the  powers  of  the   Committee  specified  in   the  con- 
stitution? or  determined  by  the  chairman?  or  unspecified? 
(c)   Have  there  been  any  changes  in  the  functions  of  the  Com- 
mittee since  it  was  established?    If  so,  what  were  the 
reasons  ? 

4.  Procedure. 

(o)      i.  How,  and  by  whom,  are  matters  brought  before  the 
Committee? 

ii.  Does  the  Committee  meet  at  stated  periods,  or  only 
when  specially  summoned?  How  is  a  meeting  sum- 
moned? 

iii.  If  the  firm  is  represented  on  the  Committee,  do  the 
worker  members  meet  separately  before  the  joint 
meeting? 

iv.  If  the  times  of  meeting  are  irregular,  please  state  the 


APPENDIX  G  359 

number  of  meetings  held   during  each  of  the  last 
three  months. 
V.  Do  the  meetings  take  place  in  employers'  or  in  workers' 

time? 
vi.  How  long  does  a  meeting  usually  last? 
vii.  Is    there    any    payment    for    attendance?     If   so,    by 
whom? 
(6)  In  case  of  failure  on  the  part  of  the  Committee  to  settle 
any  question,  to  what  authority  is  the  question  taken? 
Give  an  example  of  the  stages  through  which  a  complaint 
could  go. 

5.  Relations  with  Trade  Unions. 

(a)  What  proportion  of  the  employees  of  the  firm  are  mem- 
bers of  Unions?     Of  what  Unions  are  they  members? 

(6)   Does  the  firm  recognize  all,  or  any,  of  these  Unions? 

(c)  Have  the  Union  officials  assisted  or  obstructed  the  estab- 
lishment and  working  of  the  Committee? 

{d)  Is  any  provision  made  for  the  safeguarding  of  small  sec- 
tional interests  (such  as  the  Scientific  Instrument  Mak- 
ers in  an  engineering  works)  ? 

6.  General. 

(a)  The  attitude  of  the  management  to  Committees.     On  what 

occasions,  if  any,  has  the  management  refused  to  carry 
out  a  Committee's  decisions? 

(b)  Have  the  men  in  the  works  accepted  or  rejected  a  Com- 

mittee's decisions? 

(c)  The  possibility  and  diflfieulties  of  dove-tailing  Works  Com- 

mittees into  the  existing  Trade  Union  organizations. 

(d)  Effectiveness   and  results   of  the   establishment   of  Works 

Committees  on  the  relations  between  employers  and  em- 
ployed. 

(e)  The  desirability  of  separate  Committees  to  deal  with  dif- 

ferent  types   of   functions    {e.g.,  wages   questions,   wel- 
fare, &c.). 
(/)   Possible  directions  in  which  the  functions  of  Committees 

could  be  extended. 
(g)   The    relation    of    Works    Committees    to    unofficial    Shop 
Stewards. 
(N.B. — It  is  the  suggestions  and  feelings  of  employers,  managers, 
trade  union   officials   and   workpeople  it   is   particularly  important 
to  collect.     The  investigator's  own  criticisms  and  suggestions  sliould 
be  embodied  in  a  separate  report.) 


iiiyO  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

APPENDIX  II 

Reports  on  Individual  Works  Committees,  &cA 

(A)   to   (P) — Engineering,    Shipbuilding,   and    Iron    and    Steel   In- 
dustries. 
(Q)   to   (W) — Boot     and     Shoe,     Woolen,     and     otlier     industries. 


PAGE 

(A)  Messrs.  Hans  Renold,  Ltd.,   Manchester 

(B)  Messrs.   Rolls-Royce,   Ltd.,   Derby 

(C)  Messrs.    The    Phoenix    Dynamo    Co.,    Ltd.,    Bradford — 

Wajz:es  Committees   ...  ...  ...  ...  ... 

(D)  Messrs.  Barr  &  Stroud,  Ltd.,  Glasgow 

(E)  A    Large    Engineering    Estalilishment — Dilution    Commit- 

tee     

(F)  An  Establishment  making  Motor  Cars  and  Aeroplanes 

(G)  Messrs.  The  Horstmann  Gear  Co.,  Ltd.,  Bath  ... 

(H)   Messrs.  H.  0.  Strong  &  Sons,  Ltd.,  Bristol 

(I)    Messrs.    Guest,    Keen    &    Nettlefold,    Ltd.,    Birmingham 

(J)    A  Firm  of  Electrical  Engineers 

(K)   Messrs.  Hotehkiss  et  Cie,  Coventry     ... 

(L)   A    Large    Engineering    Establishment 

(M)   A    Munitions    Factory  ...  ...  

(N)  Messrs.  Whitehead  Torpedo  Works   (Weymouth),  Ltd. 
— Memorandum  on  Proposals  ...  ...  ... 

(0)  A   Shipbuilding   Yard  

(P)   Parkgate  Works  Joint  Trades  Committee 
(Q)   A  Firm  of  Boot  Manufacturers 
(R)   Messrs.  Reuben  Gaunt  &  Sons,  Ltd.,  Farsley  ... 
(S)  Messrs.  Fox  Brothers  &  Co.,  Ltd.,  Wellington 
(T)  Messrs.  Rowntree  &  Co.,  Ltd.,  York   ... 

(U)  A  Printing  Office       

(V)  A  Soap  Works — Welfare   Committee 

(W)  A  Coal  Miner's  Statement  on  Output  Committees     . . . 

1  The  statements  given  below  are  in  some  cases  supplied  by  the  firms, 
but  in  most  cases  have  been  compiled  by  the  investijiator  on  statements 
made  to  him  by  the  manasremcnt  and  representatives  of  the  workers  on 
the  Committee.  Wherever  possible,  pains  liave  been  taken  to  ensure  that 
the  statement  accords  with  the  views  of  all  parties  concerned  with  the 
Committee. 


APPENDIX  G  361 

(A)  Messrs.  Hans  Renold,  Ltd.,  Bumage  Works, 
Didsbury,  Manchester 

Industry:  Engineering.  Number  of  Employees,  2,600.  Num- 
ber of  Departments  and  (in  round  numbers)  average  of  workers 
in  each — 17  departments,  160  in  each.     Males  1,000.     Women  1,600. 

At  this  establishment  there  are  three  different  committees: — 

(1)  The  first  of  these  is  the  "Council"  of  the  Social  Union  of 
the  Works,  which  includes  about  two-thirds  of  the  whole  body  of 
the  workers.  The  Social  Union  is  managed  entirely  by  its  mem- 
bers, and  has  been  in  existence  for  the  last  eight  years;  it  is  con- 
cerned with  games,  recreations^  and  educational  activities,  such  as 
the  formation  of  study-circles;  it  is  said  to  have  done  a  valuable 
work  in  helping  to  create  a  feeling  of  community  and  to  have  pre- 
pared the  ground  for  later  developments. 

(2)  The  second  is  a  Welfare  Committee,  concerned  with  shop 
amenities,  which  came  into  existence  about  a  year  ago.  This  com- 
mittee is  a  joint  committee.  On  the  workers'  side  there  are  17 
representatives  for  as  many  constituencies;  each  constituency  is, 
roughly  speaking,  comprised  of  workers  employed  on  the  same  sort 
of  operation  and  in  the  same  building,  but  men  and  women  vote 
and  are  represented  sejiarately;  the  election  is  by  ballot,  and  every 
worker  (Unionist  or  non-Unionist)  is  entitled  to  vote.  Trade 
Unionism  is  officially  represented  by  a  delegate  from  the  Shop 
Stewards'  Committee.  The  Secretary  of  the  Social  Union  is  also  a 
member  of  the  Welfare  Committee.  On  the  side  of  the  manage- 
ment the  Committee  is  composed  of  one  of  the  partners  in  the 
business,  the  employment  manager,  the  women's  emi)loymc'nt  man- 
ager, and  such  of  the  assistant  works  managers  as  wish  to  attend; 
generally  the  number  is  about  6.  The  chair  is  taken  by  the  chief 
representative  of  the  management,  and  he  provides  the  secretary; 
the  meetings  are  monthly.  The  functions  of  the  Welfare  Commit- 
tee are  to  advise  the  management  on  matters  which  it  wishes  to  hear 
discussed,  to  bring  to  the  notice  of  the  management  questions  (other 
than  those  of  wages  and  Trade  Union  matters)  which  the  workers 
wish  to  have  discussed,  and  to  consider  suggestions  for  improve- 
ments. The  questions  that  have  actually  been  discussed  include  the 
treatment  of  eye-cases,  the  provision  of  first-aid  and  the  prevention 
of  accidents,  the  provision  of  overalls,  and  the  arrangement  of  the 
seats  and  the  maintenance  of  order  and  comfort  in  the  men's  and 
women's  dining-rooms.  The  members  attend  well;  they  meet  in 
overtime  hours  at  present,  and  are  paid  overtime  wages  for  the 
time  they  spend  at  meetings,  but  it  is  hoped  that  in  normal  times 


362  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

the  meetings  will  he  held  outside  wdrking  hours  jiihI  that  attendance 
will  1)0  regarded  as  a  iuriii  of  voluntary  service.  It  is  possible  that 
in  the  future  a  separate  preliminary  meeting  may  be  arranged  lor 
the  women  representatives  from  time  to  time;  it  is  possible,  too, 
that  in  the  future  the  management  will  absent  themselves  at  every 
alternate  meeting,  in  order  that  the  representatives  of  the  workers 
may  discuss  mailers  t>y  Inemseues. 

(3)  The  third  committee  is  that  of  the  Shop  Stewards.  This  was 
formed  by  a  spontaneous  movement  among  the  Trade  Unionists  in 
the  establishment,  at  the  time  when  the  Welfare  Committee  was 
under  consideration.  Koom  has  been  found  in  practice  for  both, 
and  the  firm  has  from  the  first  recognized  the  Shop  Stewards'  Com- 
mittee. The  Shop  Stewards  are  elected  by  the  Trade  Unionists 
in  the  establishment;  they  are  seven  in  number,  but  the  number  is 
likely  to  grow.  At  the  invitation  of  the  firm,  they  send  one  of  their 
members  to  sit  on  the  Welfare  Committee,  but  it  is  worth  noticing 
that  othei-wise  the  composition  of  the  two  bodies  is  distinct,  and 
the  same  person  has  not  been  elected  a  member  of  both.  The 
Shop  Stewards  elect  their  own  chairman  and  secretary.  While  the 
Welfare  Committee  is  concerned  with  shop  amenities,  the  Shop 
Stewards'  Committee  deals  with  questions  of  wages  and  Trade 
Union  matters  in  general.  As  soon  as  it  was  formed,  the  Shop 
Stewards'  Committee  asked  and  obtained  the  approval  of  the  Dis- 
trict Committee  of  the  particular  Union  to  which  its  members  al- 
most entirely  belong.  The  Secretary  of  the  Committee  sends  the 
names  of  its  members  to  the  District  Committee,  which  issues  a 
card  to  each  entitling  him  to  act  as  an  official  Shop  Steward.  The 
Committee  meets  (in  the  firm's  time)  at  the  beginning  of  each 
month,  and  after  discussion  sends  to  the  management  a  list  of  the 
questions  it  wishes  to  have  discussed;  the  management  adds  ques- 
tions which  it  wishes  to  bring  forward,  and  the  head  of  the  man- 
agement and  various  managers  then  meet  the  Committee  for  dis- 
cussion; but  a  meeting  is  held  between  the  management  and  the 
Committee  monthly,  whether  there  is  definite  business  or  no.  Some- 
times foremen  are  present  when  a  subject  vitally  concerning  them 
is  under  discussion.  From  the  point  of  view  of  the  men  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  committee  is  that  they  can  go  direct  to  the  manage- 
ment, while  before  they  could  only  go  direct  to  the  foremen.  From 
the  point  of  view  of  the  management  the  Committee  has,  on  the 
whole,  conduced  to  smoother  working  of  the  establishment;  and 
questions  of  the  method  of  paying  wages,  of  increased  bonus,  and 
of  alleged  victimization  of  workers  by  foremen  have  been  threshed 
out  freely  between  the  two  sides.     In  connection  with  the  position 


APPENDIX  G  363 

of  the  foremen,  it  is  thought  that  it  may  be  necessary  to  devise  some 
scheme,  such  as  regular  meetings  between  the  foremen  and  the  man- 
agement on  any  questions  raised  in  the  Committee  which  affect  their 
position,  in  order  to  avoid  any  clashing  between  the  foremen  and 
the  Committee.  It  is  also  thought  that  it  may  be  necessary-  to  draw 
up  rules  to  determine  the  right  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Committee 
to  enter  departments  of  the  works  to  consult  with  individual  work- 
men about  complaints.  (These  rules  have  since  been  drawn  up  and 
are  contained  in  the  following  Note.) 

Both  the  Welfare  Committee  and  the  Shop  Stewards'  Committee 
are  used  in  this  establishment  as  means  for  the  announcement  and 
explanation  of  intended  action  by  the  management.  Announce- 
ments have  been  made,  for  instance,  of  new  methods  of  grouping 
the  work,  and  again  of  the  appointments  of  foremen  and  the  gen- 
eral grounds  on  which  they  are  based. 

Note 
regulations  governing  activities   op  shop   stewards 

Meetings. 

1.  The  Directors  will  give  the  Shop  Stewards'  Committee  facili- 
ties for  holding  committee  meetings,  including  the  use  of  a  room, 
twice  per  month,  one  such  meeting  to  take  place,  unless  otherwise 
arranged,  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  each  month  at  6.15  p.m. 

2.  The  Management  will  meet  the  Committee,  in  general,  once 
per  month,  such  meeting  to  take  place  on  the  second  Wednesday  at 
6.15  p.m.  unless  otherwise  arranged. 

3.  The  Directors  will  allow  the  Shop  Stewards'  Committee  the 
use  of  one  of  the  Works  Dining  Rooms  twice  a  year,  for  general 
works  meetings. 

4.  If  extra  meetings  are  desired,  either  with  the  Management, 
for  Committee  meetings,  or  for  general  shop  meetings,  application 
should  be  made  to  the  Employment  Manager. 

5.  In  the  case  of  the  regular  meetings  of  the  Committee  or  the 
monthly  joint  meetings  with  the  Management,  if  overtime  is  being 
worked,  and  a  steward  would  have  been  working  during  a  meeting, 
time  spent  at  such  a  meeting  will  be  paid  for  as  though  spent  at 
work. 

Procedure. 

6.  The  Superintendent  is  the  executive  authority  in  each  de- 
partment, and  his  instructions  must  be  obeyed,  even  though  a  Shop 
Steward  considers  an  order  unreasonable.     In  such  a  case  the  con- 


364  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

stitutional  procedure  is  to  obey  the  order,  and  to  lay  a  complaint 
or  call  for  investigation  afterwards. 

7.  Stewards  have  the  right  to  make  any  complaint  or  suggestion 
to  a  Superintendent  with  regard  to  the  rules  he  makes,  his  treat- 
ment of  any  individual  or  individuals,  his  application  of  general 
shop  rules  or  policy,  &c. 

8.  In  no  ease  will  a  Superintendent  refuse  to  listen  to  and  in- 
vestigate any  bofui  fide  case  brought  forward  by  a  Shop  Steward, 
and  to  give  him  an  answer. 

9.  If  a  steward  is  not  satisfied  with  a  Superintendent's  handling 
of  a  question,  he  may  refer  the  matter  to  the  Shop  Stewards'  Com- 
mittee for  discussion,  if  the  Committee  so  desires,  with  the  Man- 
agement at  the  next  monthly  joint  meeting. 

10.  It  is  considered  highly  desirable  that  the  Stewards  should  get 
as  many  questions  as  possible  settled  direct  with  their  own  Super- 
intendents. This  does  not  mean  that  matters  under  discussion  can 
be  allowed  to  drag  out  unnecessarily,  and  when  feeling  is  running 
high  the  Shop  Stewards  should  take  up  a  question  immediately  with 
the  Employment  Manager  or  the  Works  Director,  but  always  with 
the  cognizance  of  the  Superintendent. 

11.  When  a  complaint  is  made  by  a  Steward  to  a  Superintendent 
on  behalf  of  another  individual,  it  must  be  understood  that  the 
Superintendent  has  every  right  to  discuss  the  matter  direct  with  the 
individual  concerned.  This  is  not  intended  as  a  means  of  putting 
off  the  Steward,  but  is  a  statement  of  the  Superintendent's  right  and 
duty  to  maintain  the  most  intimate  and  friendly  relations  possible 
with  each  and  all  of  his  men.  In  such  a  case  no  decision  will  be 
come  to  between  the  Superintendent  and  the  individual  except 
jointly  with  the  Steward. 

Similarly,  every  man  has  a  right  to  approach  his  Superintendent 
direct,  without  asking  the  help  of  the  Steward  of  his  department, 
if  he  so  desires. 

General  Arrangements  and  Discipline. 

12.  The  Management  desires  that  Shop  Stewards  shall  have  such 
reasonable  facilities  as  are  necessary  for  carrying  out  their  func- 
tions, and  expects  that  in  return  these  will  be  exercised  in  such  a 
way  as  to  involve  a  minimum  of  interference  with  their  work. 

13.  Meetings,  formal  or  informal,  cannot  be  held  in  working 
hours,  except  by  special  permission,  and  men  should  not  bring 
grievances  or  questions  to  their  Shop  Stewards  during  working 
hours,  but  should  wait  for  the  next  break. 

14.  Shop  Stewards  may  visit  the  Secretary  of  the  Shop  Stewards' 


APPENDIX  G  365 

Committee  during  working  hours  on  notifying  their  Superin- 
tendent. Similarly,  the  Secretary  may  visit  any  of  the  Stewards 
on  notifying  his  Superintendent.  Each  Steward  is  expected  to 
make  arrangements  mutually  satisfactory  to  his  Superintendent  and 
himself  for  the  notification  of  visits  when  the  Superintendent  is 
temporarily  absent  from  the  department.  The  time  spent  in  visit- 
ing should  be  restricted  as  much  as  possible,  and  must  not  be  made 
an  excuse  for  inefficiency  of  work. 

This  arrangement  is  subject  to  reconsideration,  should  the  number 
of  Stewards  in  the  works  exceed  10. 

15.  When  the  decisions  are  taken  at  a  joint  meeting  with  the 
Management,  Shop  Stewards  shall  not  announce  same  to  their  men 
until  the  dinner  time  of  the  following  day,  so^  as  to  give  time  for 
the  Superintendents  to  be  made  cognizant  of  what  transpired. 

These  regulations  are  subject  to  revision  at  any  time  by  arrange- 
ment between  the  Management  and  the  Shop  Stewards'  Committee. 

Hans  Renold,  Ltd., 

Manchester. 

20th  October,  1917. 

(B)  Messrs.  Rollb-Royce,  Ltd.,  Derby 

Works:  Engineering;  Motor-cars.  Employees:  6,000.  Depart- 
ments: 35  to  40  have  shop  stewards  of  their  own,  but  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  management  the  departments  may  be  enumer- 
ated as  about  80,  with  about  300  men  in  the  largest  (the  test  de- 
partment) down  to  about  20  in  the  smallest.  General  laborers  (in- 
eluding  women)  about  500.  Women:  About  1,500  (of  whom  about 
100  are  general  laborers). 

1.  This  establishment  is  very  strongly  unionist,  and  before  the 
war  98  per  cent,  of  the  employees  were  unionist — a  figure  which 
has  sunk  a  little  during  the  War  owing  to  dilution.  The  relations 
between  the  management  and  the  men  are  described  by  both  sides 
as  ''of  the  best."  The  works  would  appear  to  be  regarded  by  the 
labor  opinion  of  the  district  generally  with  distinct  favor. 

The  Committee  at  the  works  is  one  of  Shop  Stewards  (just  as 
the  Committees  at  two  other  establishments  here  described — those 
of  Messrs.  Hans  Renold  and  Messrs.  Barr  and  Stroud — are  also 
Committees  of  vShop  Stewards).  The  interesting  feature  of  this 
Committee  of  Shop  Stewards  is  that  it  goes  back  to  a  period  pre- 
vious to  the  war.  It  originated  as  follows: — Originally  individual 
workmen  laid  their  grievances  before  the  management,  bringing 
(according  to  the  general  habit)  a  companion  to  help  them  to  state 


366  MANAGEMEN  r  AM)  AIEX 

their  case.  As  time  went  on,  men  wlio  were  recognized  as  good 
companions  to  bring  wi-re  sorted  out,  Jind  tliey  became  serai-official 
advocates.  About  i!U2  or  1!)13  this  informal  system  developed  into 
a  recognized  Committee  of  Sliop  Stewards.  Tiiis  Committee  is  what 
exists  to-day.  There  is  little  difference  in  the  i)resent  system  i'rora 
what  was  usual  before  the  war. 

2.  Each  department  elects  its  own  Shop  Steward,  the  total  num- 
ber of  whom  is  nearly  40.  There  are  about  nine  different  unions 
with  Shop  Stewards;  but  more  than  half  of  the  Shop  Stewards 
belong  to  the  A.S.E.  The  fact  tliat  there  is  a  majority  of  A.S.E. 
Stewards  has  apparently  produced  no  difliculty.  The  various  Shop 
Stewards  form  a  Committee,  witli  a  Chairman  who  bears  the  name 
of  convenor.  On  questions  affecting  a  particular  department  or 
departments,  the  convenor  interviews  the  management,  by  appoint- 
ment, along  with  the  Shop  Steward  or  Shop  Stewards  concerned; 
while  on  questions  affecting  all  the  works,  he  interviews  the  man- 
agement, by  appointment,  along  with  all  the  rest  of  the  Shop  Stew- 
ards. There  are  no  fixed  or  regular  meetings  with  the  management, 
but  there  are  frequent  meetings  none  the  less.i  The  motto  of  the 
management  is,  "the  door  of  the  management  is  always  open,"  and 
this  motto  is  acted  upon.  There  are  no  women  among  the  Shop 
Stewards  (though  it  should  be  noticed  that  the  Shop  Stewards  bring 
a  woman  representative  with  them  to  see  the  management  when 
they  are  discussing  a  question  that  affects  women) ;  but  the  women 
employees  have  direct  access  of  their  own  to  the  management. 
They  can  come  one  by  one,  or  in  twos  and  threes  (to  raise  questions 
of  ventilation  and  heating,  for  instance) ;  and  they  always  receive  a 
hearing. 

3.  The  functions  of  the  Committee  are  large  and  undefined. 
They  bring  forward  anything  which  they  think  a  fit  matter  to  be 
brought  before  the  management.  A  question  may  sometimes  arise 
with  the  management  wlietiier  such-and-such  a  question  really  is  a  fit 
question;  there  is  then  a  discussion,  and  it  is  generally  settled  by  the 
application  of  common  sense  whether  the  question  shall  or  shall  not 
be  entertained,  but  there  seems  to  be  no  rule  regulating  the  matter. 
The  management  discusses  with  the  Committee,  or  those  of  it  con- 
cerned, changes  of  process;  while  the  men,  according  to  the  view 
of  the  management,  "have  helped  the  management  in  many  cases 
on  knotty  problems  of  output,  and  have  made  suggestions  which 

1  There  was  a  system  of  fixed  and  regular  meetings  at  one  time;  but 
this  fell  through,  partly  because  there  was  not  always  business,  but 
largely  because  the  convenor  of  the  shop  stewards  and  the  works  man- 
ager  were  both  busy  men,  and  were  often  unable  to  attend. 


APPENDIX  G  367 

were  acted  upon,"  besides  bringing  up  complaints  of  the  men  and 
cases  of  hardship.  Among  specific  matters  handled  may  be  men- 
tioned the  following: — 

(a)  The  base  times  for  premium  bonus  work. — This  system  pre- 
vails throughout  the  works;  and  if  the  base  time  cannot  be  settled 
between  the  foreman  of  the  department  and  the  workmen,  the  mat- 
ter is  brought  by  the  Convenor  and  Shop  Steward  of  the  department 
before  the  management. 

(&)  Dilution. — The  Shop  Stewards  have  protested  against  the 
principle  but  they  have  made  an  amicable  arrangement  with  the 
management  in  every  case,  it  being  understood  that  a  record  of 
changes  was  duly  kept.  The  wages  of  dilutees  have  also  been  dis- 
cussed in  conferences  of  the  management  and  Committee. 

Much  is  settled  with  the  foremen  in  the  department  concerned,  and 
never  comes  before  the  management.  Relations  with  the  foremen 
have  not  been  particularly  difficult.  Some  of  the  foremen  resented 
the  action  of  the  Committee  of  Sliop  Stewards  until  it  was  pointed 
out  to  them  that  the  Shop  Stewards  "did  not  wish  to  press  too  far." 
There  have  only  been  one  or  two  isolated  instances  of  conflict;  and 
in  one  case  (which  appeared  to  be  tlie  main  one)  the  foreman  left 
the  works.  The  Convenor  of  Shop  Stewards  has  the  right  to  go 
anywhere  in  the  establishment  without  notifying  the  foremen. 

4.  The  procedure  of  the  system  has  already  been  incidentally  de- 
scribed in  large  measure.  When  any  point  arises  in  a  department, 
it  is  reported  to  the  Convenor  (who  is  elected  by  the  Shop  Stewards 
from  their  number),  and  if  it  cannot  be  settled  in  the  department, 
it  is  brought  before  the  management  in  the  way  described  above. 
Complaints  or  requests  from  the  management  go  to  the  Convenor, 
and  are  discussed  by  the  Shop  Stewards  when  he  brings  them  be- 
fore a  meeting.  Meetings  with  the  management  are  in  the  em- 
ployer's time,  generally  in  the  afternoon,  and  may  last  from  half- 
an-hour  to  2V2  hours.  The  management  has  always  carried  out  the 
decisions  arrived  at  in  a  meeting  with  the  Committee;  and  the  gen- 
eral body  of  men  in  the  works  have  accepted  these  decisions. 

5.  The  relations  of  the  Committee  with  local  trade  unionism  seem 
to  present  no  difficulties.  The  various  societies  represented  in  the 
works — A.S.E.,  Patternmakers,  Coppersmiths  and  the  rest — have 
worked  together;  and  the  Shop  Steward  system  is  part  and  parcel 
of  the  official  Trade  Union  organization  of  the  district.  The  Dis- 
trict Committee  of  the  A.S.E.  does  not  issue  cards  to  the  Shop 
Stewards,  as  it  does  in  other  areas.  Extremists  are  sometimes 
elected  as  Shop  Stewards,  but  they  generally  mix  with  the  rest; 
they  are  a  live  element,  and  responsibility  steadies  them.     A  man 


368  MANAGEMP:NT  AM)  MEN 

who  proves  a  poor  Sliop  iSlcward  does  not  carry  weij^ht,  and  will 
generally  be  dropped  by  his  constituents.  There  is  thus  no  need 
for  the  issue  of  a  card  by  tiie  District  Committee  concerned  or 
for  the  threat  of  withdrawal  of  such  a  card.  The  relations  of  the 
Shop  Stewards  at  the  estal)lishment  witli  the  Trade  Union  authori- 
ties are  f^enerally  good,  and  every  question  unsettled  in  the 
establishment  goes  to  the  local  District  Committee  or  Joint  Com- 
mittee of  Allied  Engineering  Trades. 

It  may  be  added  that  there  is  a  Mess-room  Committee  at  the 
works,  some  four  or  five  years  old,  appointed  by  the  vote  of  all 
who  use  the  mess-room;  but  it  has  no  particular  importance. 


(C)   The  PirrENix  Dynamo  Co.,  Ltd.,  Thornbury,  Bradford 

The  Phoenix  Dynamo  Company  is  a  firm  employing  about  4,000 
employees.  In  addition  to  its  ordinary  product,  the  firm  is  now 
producing  miscellaneous  munitions  supplies.  The  following  state- 
ment, which  the  firm  has  sent  to  a  number  of  employers,  has  been 
supplied  to  the  Ministry  for  publication: — 


A  Short  Description  op  the  Phcenix  System  for  Fixing  Piece 
Work  Prices  by  Continuous  Arbitration 

Preamble. 

There  is  surely  no  question  so  vital  to  engineering  and  kindred 
industries  as  that  of  the  fixing  of  piece  work  prices.  It  would  prob- 
ably be  accurate  to  say  that  in  the  period  immediately  preceding 
the  war  most  of  the  prejudices,  both  on  the  employer's  part  and 
that  of  the  men,  to  some  system  of  payment  by  results  were  in  a 
fair  way  to  be  removed.  The  increasing  competition  in  business, 
with  the  resultant  necessity  for  selling  on  fine  margins,  together 
with  the  fact  that  experience  was  proving  that  because  a  man  was 
working  piece  work  the  quality  of  his  work  was  not  necessarily 
suffering,  had  already  converted  most  of  the  employers. 

The  chief  outstanding  difficulties  were  those  of  organization,  and 
much  of  the  remaining  prejudice  on  the  part  of  labor  towards 
schemes  of  payment  by  result  was  the  result  of  unscientific  and 
amateurish  systems  of  estimation  of  the  time  necessarA'  to  carry  out 
any  particular  job  by  the  employer.  Consequently  one  got  side  by 
side  in  the  same  shop  astounding  inequalities  of  earnings  whicli 
caused  great  discontent.  It  was  the  double-time  man  who  caused 
the  time-and-a-quarter  man  to  throw  down  tools,  and  the  employ- 


APPENDIX  G  369 

ers,  prevented  by  agreements  from  reducing  prices,  are  obviously 
unable  to  increase  all  the  prices  to  double  time  in  order  to  remove 
the  discontent.  The  employer,  therefore,  urged  often  more  by 
despair  than  a  desire  to  break  his  agreements  about  price  reduc- 
tion, adopted  subterfuges  to  reduce  the  times  which  were  too  high. 
This  often  took  the  form  of  splitting  the  job  into  sections  and  al- 
tering methods  of  production  in  a  minor  way  in  order  to  reduce  the 
time  allowed,  and  thus  the  confidence  of  the  workers  was  lost  by 
this  evasion  of  the  real  spirit  of  the  agreement. 

Even  to-day  the  predicament  still  exists,  and  the  problem  of  the 
price,  which  is  unreasonably  high,  and  the  discontent  caused  amongst 
the  remainder  of  the  men,  is  extraordinarily  difficult  for  the  em- 
ployer who  wishes  to  observe  not  only  the  letter,  but  the  spirit  of 
his  undertakings  not  to  reduce  prices. 

On  the  other  hand,  labor,  with  its  greater  facilities  for  dis- 
cussion between  individuals  and  the  absence  of  any  motive  to  pre- 
vent complete  interchange  of  information,  such  as  unfortunately 
exists  amongst  employers,  has  been  enabled  to  bring  great  pressure 
to  boar  upon  the  employer  for  the  rectification  of  a  price  which  can 
be  proved  to  be  unremunerative.  The  same  cohesion  amongst  la- 
bor, coupled  with  the  fear  amongst  employers  that  workmen  are 
only  accepting  payment  by  results  under  sufferance,  and  might  some 
day  refuse  to  continue  such  a  system,  has  made  the  employer  very 
fearful  of  pushing  forward  with  any  system  to  deal  with  the 
straight  problem  of  the  reduction  of  an  excessive  time. 

Since  the  war,  and  without,  jDossibly,  a  full  appreciation  of  the 
precedents  which  are  being  created,  employers,  weary  of  the  re- 
sponsibility for  so  much  price  fixing  and  the  dangers  of  labor  un- 
rest in  their  works,  have  compromised  the  most  difficult  jobs  either 
by  a  group  bonus  on  the  whole  of  the  wages  paid,  or  by  saying  to 
individuals  or  group  of  individuals,  "We  will  pay  you  time  and 
so-and-so  whilst  you  are  on  with  this  work."  Some  aeroplane  fac- 
tories working  on  a  group  bonus  on  total  output  are  paying  their 
men  as  much  as  time  and  three-quarters,  whilst  their  output  per 
man  is  well  below  that  of  other  aeroplane  factories  on  ordinary  day 
rates. 

It  is  fatally  easy  to  act  in  this  amateurish  way  whilst  prices  are 
high  and  excess  profits  can  be  used,  but  any  experienced  organizer 
or  worker,  either  employer  or  employed,  knows  that  this  condition 
cannot  last  after  the  war.  It  is  this  prodigal  use  of  "time  and  a 
something,"  without  any  definite  guarantee  that  that  amount  of 
work  had  been  carried  out,  wliich  has  destroyed  the  whole  of  the 
principle  of  the  minimum  wage.     Competition  on  day  rates  being 


JJTO  MANAGE^MKNT  AM)  MEN 

eliminatt'd,  a  competition  between  employers  as  to  wlio  can  give  the 
most  foolish  piece-work  price  or  the  higliest  bonus  per  hour  on 
some  theoretically  imperfect  group  bonus  scheme  has  taken  its  place. 
Tile  best  type  of  labor  realizes  tiiat  the  badly  organized  piece  work 
or  bonus  system  is,  in  tlie  end,  as  inimical  to  liis  interests  as  it  is 
to  those  of  the  employer.  So  much  for  tlie  money  side  of  the  ques- 
tion. 

There  is,  however,  another  point  wliicli  sliouhl  be  given  its  true 
value.  One  of  the  greatest  objections  to  present  piece-work  .sys- 
tems is  that  the  employer  works  out  the  price  in  secret,  writes  down 
the  time  on  a  card,  and  this  settles  the  price.  Now,  the  men  feel 
that  payment  by  results  is  a  bargain  and  that  it  is  not  within  the 
province  of  the  employer  or  the  employed  to  state  arbitrarily  what 
the  price  is  to  be.  The  fact  that  most  employers  are  quite  pre- 
pared to  explain  politely  and  sensibly  to  any  workman  how  the 
price  is  made  up  does  not  meet  the  theoretical  ol),jection  to  the 
system,  and  the  end  of  what  should  be  a  perfectly  logical  and  simple 
business  transaction  is  often  an  altercation  with  a  "take  it  or  leave 
it"  as  the  employer's  last  word. 

Another  position  which  is  often  created  as  a  result  of  a  failure 
to  agree  about  price  is  a  steady  opposition  more  or  less  furtive 
to  the  whole  system.  Assuming,  however,  tliat  the  system  of  piece- 
work fixing  is  so  accurate  that  every  workman  secures  a  fair  return 
for  his  labor,  the  theoretical  objection  of  organized  Trades  Union- 
ism to  any  arbitrary  settlement  of  the  price  by  the  employer  still 
remains. 

A  TABULATION    OF   THE   MAIN    DIFFICULTIES 

(1)  Unscientific  price  fixing. 

(2)  The  absence  of  proper  machinery  for  appeal  which  is  quick 
in  action  and  not  cumbersome  in  operation  for  the  rectification  of — 

(a)  a  price  which  is  too  low; 

(b)  a  price  which  is  too  high. 

Of  these  (fe)  is  essential  if  the  employer  is  to  be  able  to  preserve 
towards  the  men  absolute  straightforward  dealing.  The  employer 
must  have  means  which  will  enable  him,  witliout  even  a  suspicion 
of  stealtli,  to  reduce  a  price  without  necessarily  changing  the  method 
of  manufacture. 

The  following  is  a  system  which  has  been  working  for  some  time, 
the  terms  of  which  were  drawn  up  bj'  the  aid  and  cooperation  of 
the  principal  Union  of  metal  workers  and  the  firm  concerned.  It 
is  capable  of  considerable  extension  and  improvement,  and  is  a 
sincere  attempt  to  solve  an  exceedingly  complicated  but  absolutely 
vital  problem. 


APPENDIX  G  371 

Financial  Basis  of  Prices. 

The  men  had  pressed  for  a  guaranteed  time  and  a  half.  To  this 
we  could  not  agree.  Eventually  it  was  agreed  that  times  should 
be  fixed  so  that  an  average  man  could  earn  time  and  a  quarter,  and 
a  really  good  man  should  have  no  difficulty  in  making  time  and  a 
half.  The  following  is  the  agreement  reached  between  the  prin- 
cipal Union  of  metal  workers  and  ourselves  concerning  the  scheme: — 

On  getting  out  a  new  job  we  would  calculate  the  feeds  and  speeds 
which  were  suitable  for  the  tool  on  which  the  job  was  to  be  per- 
formed, and  then  put  forward  the  time  to  the  man  who  had  to  do 
the  job,  saying:  "This  is  the  time  we  offer;  you  are  not  bound  to 
accept  it  and  can  appeal  if  you  like.  In  this  event  you  go  to  the 
Time  Study  Office,  where  the  man  who  has  dealt  with  the  job  will 
go  through  the  detail  of  his  calculations,  and  if  he  has  made  a  slip 
will  at  once  put  it  right." 

Our  time  fixing  is  not  infallible,  and  the  men  can  help  us  by 
pointing  out  errors.  If,  however,  we  are  unconvinced  that  the 
price  is  unreasonable,  and  the  man  is  equally  unconvinced  that  it  is 
reasonable,  he  can  then  say,  "I  want  this  job  to  go  to  Committee." 
The  time  offered  by  us  would  then  be  put  on  the  card  as  a  tem- 
porary time,  and  the  decision  of  the  Committee  would  be  added 
on  or  taken  off  the  time  agreed  by  the  Committee  when  their  de- 
cision has  been  given.  In  any  case,  however,  the  man  has  no  object 
in  hanging  back,  because  no  evidence  as  to  the  time  taken  on  the  job 
between  the  price  being  fixed  and  the  Committee  being  held  is 
available  for  the  Committee. 

The  Committee  consists  of  3  of  the  firm's  representatives  and  3 
workmen's  representatives  consisting  of  the  man  concerned  and  2 
workmen  selected  by  him  who  are  operating  the  same  type  of  ma- 
chine or  whose  work  is  closely  allied  to  the  work  in  question.  In 
a  dispute  of  a  Milling  Machine  price,  the  man  and  2  other  millers 
would  attend. 

The  Committee  is  to  be  held  within  2  days  of  the  complaint.  In 
the  event  of  the  Committee  failing  to  agree  it  is  then  up  to  the  firm 
to  demonstrate  in  their  own  works  that  the  time  is  fair  and  that 
time  and  a  quarter  can  be  made  on  it.  The  question  of  outside 
demonstrators  being  employed  was  raised,  and  it  was  agreed  that 
only  in  the  case  of  new  tools  bought  from  the  makers  on  guaran- 
teed times  should  outside  experts  be  brought  in.  The  firm  have  the 
option  to  decide  whether,  in  the  event  of  the  Committee  failing  to 
agree,  the  demonstration  of  the  time  shall  be  done  in  the  shop 
itself  or  alternatively  in  a  demonstration  department.     It  is  further 


372  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

afifreed  that,  in  addition  to  the  Committee  beinj^  a  means  by  which 
workmen  can  secure  awards  as  to  prices  which  are  too  low,  the  firm 
have  tlie  same  privilege  with  regard  to  prices  which  are  too  high.  In 
the  event,  however,  of  the  firm  petitioning  for  the  reduction  of  a 
price  and  bringing  the  matter  to  a  Committee,  it  is  understood  that 
any  reduction  which  is  made  in  the  time  shall  be  put  on  to  another 
job  on  which  the  workers  cannot  do  as  well.  This  is  accepted  with- 
out demur,  as  it  shows  a  desire,  at  any  rate,  to  try  to  efjualize  the 
position  as  between  man  and  man  and  also  from  the  firm's  jjoint  of 
view. 

Tlie  above  are  the  terms  of  the  understanding  arrived  at  and  the 
following  observations  may  be  interesting. 

The  whole  point  about  this  system  is  that  the  rate  fixers  shall 
get  into  their  heads  the  fact  that  they  are  not  telling  the  men  how 
much  they,  as  representatives  of  the  Almighty,  agree  to  allow  for 
each  job,  but  are  in  the  position  of  buyers  who,  having  worked  out 
what  they  think  is  a  fair  price  for  a  commodity,  make  the  man 
an  offer  for  it  on  those  tenus. 

A  great  deal  can  be  done  in  making  a  Time  Study  Department 
a  really  nice  office  and  insisting  tliat  the  man  is  treated  really 
courteously.  One  of  the  great  difficulties  is  to  get  personalities 
definitely  removed  from  the  transaction.  A  discussion  that  starts 
about  the  price  of  a  job  often  finishes  by  two  men  staking  their 
reputation  as  craftsmen  and  their  experience  as  workmen  that  they 
are  absolutely  right. 

The  rate  fixer  must  be  made  to  feel  that  it  is  not  a  disgraceful 
thing  to  alter  his  price.  The  friendly  spirit  is  extremely  important, 
and  unduly  conceited  rate  fixers  with  the  manner  of  a  general  man- 
ager have  not  proved  invariably  successful.  The  surprising  part  of 
the  scheme  over  the  period  in  which  it  has  now  been  operating  is 
the  very  small  number  of  Committees  which  are  held.  It  would 
appear  that  a  very  stupid  workman  who  goes  to  the  Time  Study 
Office  to  argue  with  the  rate-fixer,  or  a  very  thick-headed  rate-fixer, 
are  either  of  them  rather  afraid  of  what  a  Committee  would  decide 
about  their  particular  case,  and  so  whichever  party  feels  himself  to 
be  technically  weakest  in  the  argument  appears  to  give  way.  At 
any  rate,  the  number  of  Committees  is  incredibly  small.  It  may  be 
argued  that  this  is  because  the  prices  are  fixed  on  so  generous  a 
basis. 

The  average  in  the  whole  of  the  shops  concerned  ranges  from 
27%  per  cent,  in  the  worst  case  to  52^4  per  cent,  in  the  highest 
average  case. 

The  provision  by  which  an  employer  is  allowed  to  reduce  a  price 


APPENDIX  G  373 

(provided  that  he  adds  the  time  so  reduced  on  to  some  job  wliich 
is  a  lean  one)  has  the  advantage  that  after  a  time  you  get  a  certain 
number  of  hours  on  the  men's  side  of  the  ledger,  and  this  is  a  sort 
of  accumulation  of  time  in  the  bank.  By  this  means  cases  of 
special  hardship  can  be  dealt  with  by  adding  some  of  the  time  on 
to  the  lean  jobs. 

The  composition  of  the  Committee  from  the  employers'  point  of 
view  should  vary  from  time  to  time,  and  the  superintendents  of  the 
shop  will  be  well  advised  to  keep  their  eye  on  the  cases  coming  up 
for  Committee.  It  sometimes  happens  that  a  very  good  workman 
indeed  has  become  pig-headed  about  his  particular  job,  and  whilst 
the  rate  fixer  may  be  exactly  right,  it  may  be  advisable  to  humor 
the  man  in  question.  The  very  fact  of  the  man's  all-round  excel- 
lence and  his  status  of  a  workman  makes  it  advisable  to  keep  him 
friendly  to  the  scheme.  In  cases  of  this  sort,  where  a  certain 
amount  of  feeling  is  present,  it  is  advisable  for  some  fairly  high 
official  to  sit  as  one  of  the  employer's  representatives  and  tactfully 
(whilst  saving  the  rate-fixer's  face  as  much  as  possible)  leave  the 
Committee  to  humor  the  man  somewhat.  These  cases  have  proved 
to  be  very  rare,  but  the  employer  has  so  much  to  gain  from  the 
system  generally  that  he  must  be  prepared  to  stretch  a  point,  with- 
out saying  he  is  doing  so,  to  meet  very  difficult  eases  which  come  up 
to  Committee.     One  ease  in  point : — 

An  extraordinary  skilled  aeroplane  metal  worker  brought  a  case 
up  to  Committee,  where  the  rate-fixer  was  an  equally  skilled  metal 
worker  and  a  member  of  the  same  Union.  The  matter  had  ob- 
viously become  more  a  question  of  which  of  the  two  men  was  a  fool 
than  the  question  of  the  price,  and  it  is  in  cases  of  this  sort  that  a 
tactful  official  can  be  so  valuable  on  the  Committee. 

If  any  employer  will  put  himself  in  the  position  of  a  workman 
who,  on  being  offered  a  price,  thinks  it  unfair,  and  who  has  either 
to  take  it  or  else  put  himself  in  opposition  to  his  foreman  and 
others,  he  will  appreciate  the  value  of  some  such  scheme  as  the  above 
to  the  workmen.  Under  the  present  scheme  a  man  so  placed  is 
either  satisfied  by  the  Time  Study  Office  or  not.  and  if  he  is  still 
dissatisfied  he  can  ask  for  a  Committee  and  go  back  working  on 
the  job  without  quarreling  either  with  his  foreman  or  anybody  else. 

(D)  Messrs.  Bare  and  Stroud,  Limited,  Anniesland,  Glasgow 

Industry:  Engineering.  Number  of  Employees,  2,350,  of  whom 
275  are  women. 

This  firm  has,  and  has  long  had,  an  admirable  system  for  the 


iilh  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

education  of  its  apprentices,  and  it  is  noteworthy  that  several  of 
them,  during  tlu-ir  apprenticeship,  have  taken  the  Bachelor  of  Sci- 
ence Degree  in  the  University  of  Glasgow. 

The  firm  has  also,  like  the  sliiphuilding  firm  of  whose  organiza- 
tion an  account  is  given  under  (U)  below,  a  system  of  awards  for 
suggestions  made  by  their  workmen,  which  has  been  at  work  for 
many  years. 

There  are  two  workers'  Committees  in  the  establishment : — 

(1)  The  first,  which  is  called  the  Shop  Committee,  might  also  be 
designated  a  Welfare  Committee,  and  has  been  in  existence  since 
about  1900. 

Its  constitution  and  rules  are  set  forth  in  the  published  Book  of 
Rules  of  the  firm.  Briefly,  it  may  be  said  to  deal  with  shop  ameni- 
ties. It  controls  the  Sick  Benefit  Society,  the  fund  for  distress, 
and  all  other  funds  of  a  like  nature.  It  controls  the  management 
of  the  canteen  and  the  rifle  club  and  handles  all  social  arrange- 
ments for  entertainments,  picnics,  and  the  like.  The  Chairman  is 
one  of  the  Directors.  He  can  veto  the  discussion  of  any  matter; 
but  he  has  never  once  had  to  exercise  this  veto.  No  Trade  Union 
questions — no  questions  of  wages  or  application  of  Trade  Union 
Rules — come  before  this  Committee.  The  Committee  meets  regu- 
larly once  a  month  and  oftener  if  necessary.  There  are  various 
sub-committees  appointed  by  the  Shop  Committee  to  deal  with  the 
various  activities. 

(2)  In  March,  1916,  when  dilution  was  started,  a  second  Com- 
mittee was  formed,  called  the  Industrial  Committee.  As  it  is  pro- 
fessedly in  existence  for  the  war  period  only,  nothing  is  said  about 
this  Committee  in  the  Book  of  Rules  of  the  firm,  but  the  following 
description  may  illustrate  its  chief  features. 

The  formation  of  the  Industrial  Committee  was  helped  by  the 
good  relations  and  the  community  of  feeling  engendered  by  the 
working  of  the  existing  Shop  Committee.  The  Industrial  Commit- 
tee is  based  essentially  on  Trade  Unionism  and  the  Shop  Steward 
System.  The  twelve  representatives  of  the  men  are  elected  entirely 
by  the  Shop  Stewards,  some  forty  in  number,  of  the  different  Unions. 
There  is  thus  no  system  of  election  by  all  the  workers  and  the  Com- 
mittee is  not  representative  of  all  the  workers,  but  on  the  other  hand 
there  is  a  definite  nexus  established  with  Trade  Union  sentiment 
and  organization.  Two  Directors  of  the  firm  and  the  head  foreman 
sit  with  the  twelve  representatives  of  the  men.  When  there  is  busi- 
ness to  transact,  meetings  of  the  Industrial  Committee  are  held 
on  Tuesdays  at  11  a.m.  and  the  men's  representatives  are  paid  as 
usual  during  the  time  occupied  at  the  meetings.     The  members  of 


APPENDIX  G  375 

the  Committee  hold  oflBee  for  one  year.  There  are  two  Chairmen, 
one  from  the  men's  representatives  and  one  from  the  firm's,  and 
they  preside  at  alternate  meetings.  The  only  other  officer  is  a 
Secretary  elected  by  the  Committee. 

The  following  list  contains  some  of  the  questions  treated  by  the 
Industrial  Committee  during  the  past  eighteen  months: — 

(1)  The  question  of  the  Convenor  of  Shop  Stewards  going  into 

other  departments  for  discussion  of  grievances.  This 
was  discussed  and  the  result  was  the  formulation  of 
regulations  {see  Note  (i);  similar  rules  are  also  con- 
tained in  Note  (ii)  in  respect  of  the  "Shop"  Committee). 

(2)  Wages  of  women  and  girl  employees. 

(3)  The  record  of  changes  in  practice. 

(4)  Questions  arising  from  the  premium  bonus  system. 

(5)  Appeals  against  dismissal. ^ 

(6)  The  question  of  men  forgetting  to  clock  on  and  of  whether 

they  should  receive  wages  for  the  period  for  which  they 
had  forgotten  to  clock  on. 

(7)  The    question    of    working    overtime    on    Saturdays.     The 

Committee  agreed  to  refer  this  to  a  general  plebiscite. 

(8)  The  question  of  wages  of  apprentices. 

(9)  The  question  of  rules  for  night-shift  work;   e.g.,  whether 

men  could  leave  a  little  before  the  closing  time  to  catch 
a  train. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  functions  of  the  Industrial  Committee  are 
important;  it  is  one  of  the  most  advanced  Works  Committees  in 
existence.  Questions  of  wages  come  within  its  scope  (under  2,  4, 
6  and  8  above) ;  and  a  question  recently  under  discussion  was  a 
proposal  that  there  should  be  a  guaranteed  premium  bonus. 

A  question  which  has  recently  arisen  is  that  of  the  relation  of 
the  Industrial  Committee  to  the  local  Trade  Union  organization. 

This  Industrial  Committee  is  deserving  of  attention;  first  in  its 
constitution — based  as  it  is  on  the  Shop  Steward  system — and  sec- 
ondly, in  its  influence  on  the  works,  which  has  been  large  and  far- 
reaching. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  the  system  of  Messrs.  Barr  and 
Stroud,  Limited,  is  very  like  that  of  Messrs.  Hans  Renold,  Ltd. 
Both  have  two  Committees;  both  assign  to  one  Committee  the  con- 
sideration of  shop  amenities,  and  to  the  other  questions  of  work 

1  Only  one  case  has  arisen.  Here  the  firm  refused  to  go  back  on  its 
decision,  but  was  ready  to  explain  its  action.  This  was  done.  The 
men's  representatives  then  asked  if  the  man  in  question  might  receive  a 
clear  character:  this  was  given. 


376  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

iiud  wages;  both  base  the  second  Committee  on  the  Shop   Steward 
.system. 

An  immediate  and  important  result  of  having  such  an  Industrial 
Committee  is  tliat  grievances  that  might  otlierwise  generate  bad 
feeling  are  brought  at  once  to  the  attention  of  the  Directors.  The 
trivial  surroundings  of  grievances  are  brushed  off,  and  the  real  prin- 
ciples underlying  tlie  (juestions  under  discussion  are  arrived  at. 

So  far,  tlie  Industrial  Committee  and  the  Shop  Stewards  have 
(juite  naturally  declined  to  deal  themselves  with  matters  of  disci- 
pline; but  in  ca.ses  where  they  have  declined,  they  have  actively  up- 
held, or  at  all  events  not  hindered  the  regulations  imposed  by  the 
firm. 

Note  (i) 

Regulations  fob  Leave  Granted  to  Shop   Stewards  to  Deal 
WITH  Complaints 

(1)  If  any  employee  has  a  relevant  complaint  to  make  about  his 
work,  sufficiently  important  to  bring  before  a  Shop  Steward,  he 
must  communicate  only  with  the  Shop  Steward  of  his  own  De- 
partment. 

(2)  If  the  Department  Shop  Steward  thinks  the  complaint  re- 
quires attention,  he  will  send  for,  or  ^etch,  the  Convenor  of  Shop 
Stewards,  who,  when  possible,  will  tell  the  foreman  of  the  De- 
partment to  which  he  is  called  that  he  has  been  summoned  on  Shop 
Steward  business. 

(3)  If  the  Convenor  of  Shop  Stewards,  after  consultation  with 
the  Department  Shop  Steward  and  the  complainer,  thinks  the  com- 
plaint requires  further  attention,  he  will  call  a  meeting  of  Shop 
Stewards  to  consider  the  matter, 

(4)  If  the  meeting  of  Shop  Stewards  thinks  the  complaint  re- 
quires still  further  consideration,  the  Convenor  will  bring  it  before 
a  meeting  of  the  Industrial  Committee  or  convene  an  emergency 
meeting  of  the  Industrial  Committee  in  order  to  laj'  the  complaint 
before  the  Firm. 

(5)  The  foremen  are  instructed  by  the  Firm  that  they  are  to 
grant  the  facilities  referred  to  above;  but  if  they  think  that  these 
facilities  are  being  taken  advantage  of,  they  are  instructed  to 
inform  the  Firm  so  that  the  representatives  of  the  Firm  may  draw 
the  attention  of  the  Industrial  Committee  to  it. 

Barr  and  Stroud,  Limited, 

(Signed)     Harold  D.  Jackson, 

Director. 


APPENDIX  G  377 

Note  (ii) 

NOTICE 

To  Members  of  the  Staff  and  to  Foremen  and  Members  op  the 
Shop  Committee 

In  connection  with  their  duties  as  Members  of  the  Shop  Com- 
mittee, it  is  sometimes  necessary  for  the  Members  of  the  Shop  Com- 
mittee to  go  into  different  departments  of  the  shop  to  enquire  into 
matters  connected  with  the  well-being  of  the  employees. 

In  such  circumstances  the  Members  of  the  Shop  Committee  should 
always  inform  the  Chief  of  the  Department  or  the  Foreman  into 
whose  Department  they  go,  that  they  are  on  Shop  Committee  duty, 
and  in  such  circumstances  the  Foreman  will  not  unreasonably  with- 
hold permission. 

The  Firm  rely  that  Members  of  the  Shop  Committee  will  be  care- 
ful never  to  abuse  this  privilege. 

Each  Member  of  the  Shop  Committee  is  provided  with  a  ticket 
of  identification. 

Barr  and  Stroud,  Limited, 
(Signed)  Harold  D.  Jackson, 

Director. 


(E) — A  Large  Engineering  Establishment — Dilution 
Committee 

Seven   Departments,    employing    over   10,000    workpeople. 

1.  The  Committee  at  this  establishment  should  properly  be  de- 
scribed as  a  Dilution  Committee.  It  came  into  existence  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1916,  and  though  matters  other  than  dilution  are  occasionally 
brought  before  it,  its  primary  function  is  the  regulation  of  dilution. 

2.  The  election  of  the  Dilution  Committee  consists  of  two  stages : — 

(1)  In  the  first  place,  Dilution  Delegates  were  elected  on  the 

basis  of  two  delegates  for  each  shop  by  all  workers, 
unionist  or  non-unionist  (including  women  i),  in  every 
department  or  shop. 

(2)  In  the  second  place,  the  delegates  select  five  representa- 

tives to  represent  them  on  a  Joint  Dilution  Committee, 

1  The  women  in  one  department  did  not  vote,  but  that  is  due  to  diffi- 
culties of  time  and  place.  Tf  their  hours  had  been  diflferent  and  the 
department  had  not  been  at  a  distance  from  the  rest  they  would  have 
voted. 


378  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

on  which  also  sit  an  equal  numbor  of  the  manaf^ement. 
At  first  there  was  an  sigreed  external  Chairman  but. 
subsequently,  the  senior  manager  present  acted  in  this 
capacity.  There  was  found  to  be  the  objection  that  if 
an  external  Chairman  is  appointed  whose  decisions  are 
accepted,  arbitration  within  the  works  is  set  up  for  deal- 
ing with  matters  which  should  be  entirely  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  management.  A  member  of  the  man- 
agement presides  and  another  member  of  the  manage- 
ment is  Official  Secretary,  and  is  responsible  for  the  of- 
ficial minutes  and  the  notification  of  all  dilution  ques- 
tions. He  is  also  responsible  for  all  communication  with 
the  men's  Secretary.  On  the  men's  side  there  is  a  Chair- 
man and  an  additional  representative  who  acts  as  the 
men's  Secretary,  but  has  no  vote. 

3.  There  are  no  regular  meetings  of  the  Joint  Dilution  Commit- 
tee; it  meets  when  either  side  asks  for  a  meeting.  (Some  questions 
raised  by  the  men's  secretary  may  be  settled  at  once  by  executive 
action  and  without  a  meeting,  if  the  case  is  a  clear  one,  and  the 
action  will  be  simply  reported  at  the  next  meeting.)  The  minutes 
are  kept  by  the  Official  Secretary  appointed  by  the  management. 
The  men's  Secretary  takes  informal  notes.  The  minutes  are  gen- 
erally circulated  a  week  before  a  meeting  to  enable  the  men  to 
consider  them  prior  to  the  meeting  and  raise  at  the  meeting  any 
points  arising  therefrom  or  to  which  they  do  not  agree.  Sometimes 
there  are  meetings  once  a  week,  sometimes  once  a  month  or  even 
at  longer  intervals. 

4.  The  functions  of  the  Dilvition  Delegates  are  to  supervise  the  in- 
troduction of  dilution  and  the  wages  paid  to  dilute.  The  dele- 
gates may  complain,  for  instance,  about  a  foreman  introducing 
dilution  without  proper  notice,  or  as  to  the  rates  paid  to  a  dilutee 
or  to  the  manning  of  a  lathe  by  a  dilutee.  If  any  question  arises 
about  the  rates  paid  to  a  dilutee,  they  refer  to  the  Dilution  Cer- 
tificate sent  to  them,  on  wliich  this  rate  is  stated.  In  no  instance 
are  they  allowed  to  ascertain  the  rates  paid  to  men  or  women  other 
than  dilutees.  On  the  whole  no  insuperable  difficulty  has  arisen 
betAveen  tlie  Dilution  Delegates  and  the  foremen.  This  is  eliiefiy 
due  to  the  tact  displayed  by  the  management  and  the  men's  Chair- 
man, but  many  times  there  have  been  grave  difficulties  owing  to 
the  action  of  certain  of  the  younger  delegates  and  foremen. 

The  Joint  Dilution  Committee  deals  with  all  important  matters 
arising  out  of  dilution  which  come  up  to  it  (as  a  rule  through  the 
men's  Secretary)   from  the  delegates. 


APPENDIX  G  379 

5.  To  what  has  been  said  above,  it  should  be  added  that  the 
whole  procedure  of  the  Committee  is  necessarily  elastic,  and  de- 
pendent on  personal  tact  and  contact  rather  than  on  a  formal  con- 
stitution. There  is,  for  instance,  no  fixed  tenure  of  office  for  the 
men's  representatives;  if  their  action  or  constitution  were  chal- 
lenged, as  it  was  in  a  case  when  the  members  of  the  United  Machine 
Workers'  Association  claimed  representation,  they  could,  and  did, 
resign,  and  a  new  election  was  held.  The  same  Committee  as  be- 
fore was  elected.  The  men's  representatives  on  the  Joint  Com- 
mittee, if  they  consider  any  proposal  involves  an  important  ques- 
tion of  principle,  ask  to  have  a  matter  referred  back  to  the  Dilu- 
tion Delegates  for  instructions,  or,  if  the  question  is  comparatively 
unimportant,  may  agree  to  settle  it  off-hand. 

The  Dilution  Committee  here  described  is  obviously  of  a  special 
character,  and  under  the  peculiar  conditions  the  Joint  Dilution 
Committee  has  been  fairly  successful.  It  works  easily  and  in- 
formally. Confined  in  form  to  questions  of  dilution,  it  finds  it  easy 
to  discuss  other  questions  and  to  deal  with  works  conditions  in 
general  on  occasion;  for  instance,  in  a  case  where  the  firm  had  sub- 
mitted a  proposal  for  a  bonus  on  output  to  a  large  number  of  set- 
ters-up,  the  men  asked  their  Dilution  Committee  representatives  to 
take  the  question  up  and  discuss  the  matter  with  the  management. 

The  men's  representatives  on  the  Dilution  Committee  have  pre- 
vented many  threatened  strikes  developing  in  various  parts  of  the 
works,  either  by  their  direct  intervention  or  by  calling  the  attention 
of  the  management  to  trouble  that  was  brewing. 

In  the  firm's  opinion,  the  value  of  the  work  to  be  done  by  such 
a  Committee  depends  on  the  men's  representatives  being  educated 
and  fair-minded  men. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  this  Committee  is  essentially  a  Di- 
lution Committee  and  not  a  Works  Committee.  The  representatives 
may,  de  facto,  be  Shop  Stewards,  but  they  are  chosen  by  all  the  em- 
ployees, including  skilled,  semi-skilled  and  unskilled  workpeople. 

The  Dilution  Committee  does  not  represent  the  steel  smelters, 
steel,  iron  and  brass  founders,  smiths  and  strikers,  and  one  or  two 
other  trades.  If  it  were  to  become  a  Shop  Committee  it  would  prob- 
ably have  to  be  increased  and  represent  all  trades  and  the  foremen. 
In  the  firm's  opinion  the  constitution  of  such  a  Committee,  so  as 
to  secure  the  best  results,  would  require  very  careful  consideration. 

(F)  An  Establishment  Making  Motor-cars  and  Aeroplanes 

The  firm  make  motor-cars,  aeroplanes  and  aeroplane  engines. 
The  present  number  of  employees  is  about  3,500,  of  whom  some  600 


380  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

are  women  and  some  150  general  laborers.  The  others  are  skilled  or 
semi-skilled. 

The  Committee  dates  back  to  1908.  It  arose  from  a  dispute  which 
resulted  in  a  strike.  The  directors  had  had  no  idea  of  the  trouble, 
and  in  order  that  in  the  future  such  a  position  should  be  made  im- 
possible the  Works  Committee  was  formed.  District  Trade  Union 
ollicials  took  an  active  part  in  the  formation  of  the  Committee. 

The  Committee  consists  of  22  members,  one  from  each  depart- 
ment. Each  member  must  be  a  Trade  Unionist,  but  voting  is  open 
to  all  men,  whether  or  not  Trade  Unionists.  The  women  do  not 
have  votes.  There  are  members  of  26  Trade  Unions  in  the  works. 
Only  10  of  these  have  members  on  the  Committee.  The  10  are  the 
A.S.E.,  the  Toolmakers,  the  United  Kingdom  Society  of  Smiths,  the 
United  Kingdom  Society  of  Coaehmakers,  the  Amalgamated  Society 
of  Carpenters  and  Joiners,  the  United  Machine  Workers,  the  Wood 
Cutting  Machinists,  the  Patternmakers,  the  Steam  Engine  Makers, 
and  the  Sheet  Metal  Workers.^  The  members  are  elected  annually, 
each  department  electing  its  representatives.  The  Committee  choose 
their  own  Chairman  and  Secretary.  The  same  people  tend  to  be 
reelected  from  term  to  term;  the  present  Chairman  has  been  in 
that  position  from  the  first,  and  the  Secretary  in  his  for  4V2 
years. 

The  only  formal  rules  are  contained  in  a  poster,  a  copy  of  which 
is  posted  up  in  each  department.  This  gives  a  short  statement  of 
why  the  Committee  was  formed  and  outlines  the  procedure  to  be 
adopted  with  complaints.  This  procedure  consists  of  three  courts 
of  appeal — the  Works  Manager,  the  Managing  Director,  and  the 
Board  of  Directors.  Thus,  a  man  not  satisfied  with  the  response 
of  a  foreman  goes  to  his  departmental  representative  on  the  Com- 
mittee (or  direct  to  the  Secretary  or  Chairman,  who  have  freedom 
of  movement  from  department  to  dej^artment).  The  Chairman  and 
Secretary  of  the  Committee  and  the  representative  of  the  complain- 
ant's department  then  api^roach  the  Works  Manager,  and  there- 
after, if  necessary,  first  the  Managing  Director,  and  then  the  Board 
of  Directors.  In  fact,  nothing  needs  to  go  beyond  the  Works  Man- 
ager; nothing  has  gone  so  far  as  the  Managing  Director  since  there 
was  some  trouble  connected  with  the  introduction  of  the  Insurance 
Act ;  and  during  the  present  Director's  tenure  of  the  position  no 
ease  at  all  has  reached  the  Board  of  Directors. 

1  At  one  time  there  was  a  member  of  the  Workers'  Union  on  the  Com- 
mittee, but  when  he  left  the  works  the  next  appointed  belonged  to  a 
skilled  union.  The  departments  represented  and  the  unions  to  which 
the  members  belong  are  given  at  the  end  of  this  report. 


APPENDIX  G  381 

The  Committee  acts  for  almost  all  purposes  by  the  methods  de- 
scribed in  the  preceding  paragraph.  The  Works  Manager  has  met 
the  whole  22  as  a  body  on  one  occasion  only.  The  occasion  was  a 
visit  from  an  officer  of  the  Ministry  of  Munitions  on  the  question  of 
timekeeping.  The  Works  Manager  meets  the  small  number  who 
act  for  the  Committee  (perhaps  with  the  employee  or  employees 
concerned)  whenever  there  is  occasion.  The  number  of  interviews 
rises  and  falls.  Sometimes  he  will  have  an  interview  every  day  for 
a  week,  and  then  a  fortnight  without  one  will  pass.  These  inter- 
views are  in  employers'  time.  The  22  members  meet  by  themselves 
about  once  a  month  for  general  business;  these  meetings  are  partly 
in  their  own  time  and  partly  in  the  employers'  time. 

The  Committee  has  been  largely  responsible  for  making  the  appeal 
for  better  timekeeping  effective,  and  this  is  the  more  remarkable 
because  even  before  the  appeal  was  made  the  timekeeping  record 
was  considered  very  good.  As  an  illustration  the  following  figures 
were  given :  for  the  week  ending  10/3/17  the  total  number  of  hours 
lost  by  3,300  employees  was  8,050;  the  corresponding  numbers  for 
3,500  employees  in  the  week  ending  22/9/17  was  5,700;  that  is  a 
reduction  from  2:4  to  1:6  per  head.  The  other  questions  discussed 
with  the  officials  of  the  Committee  and  the  representatives  on  it  of 
particular  departments  have  included  dilution,  which  was  carried 
through  without  trouble,  and  grievances  in  regard  to  premium  bonus 
times,  including  the  fixing  of  new  times  when  methods  of  production 
are  altered.  Usually  the  arrangement  of  times  is  discussed  when 
the  question  affects  a  number  of  men.  A  toolroom  bonus,  payment 
of  time  and  an  eighth,  was  arranged  between  the  Committee's  repre- 
sentatives and  the  Works  Manager.  This  bonus,  which  was  con- 
ditional on  good  timekeeping  and  increased  activity,  has  since  been 
given  up  in  favor  of  individual  premium  bonus. 

The  Chairman  of  the  Committee,  who  is  an  official  in  his  own 
Union,  emphasized  three  points : — 

(1)  the  division  of  functions  between  Union  and  Works  Com- 

mittee, wage  questions  in  particular  being  Union  matters. 

(2)  the  established  procedure  as  posted  up  in  the  departments. 

(3)  the  officials'  right  of  movement  from  shop  to  shop. 

He  had  no  doubts  about  the  benefits  produced  by  the  Committee. 
The  representatives  of  the  management  agree  as  to  the  success  of  the 
present  arrangements. 


382 


MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 


Note 


Division-  into 

Departments 

Name  of  Department. 

No.  of  Km- 
Iiloyees  in 
Department 
(in  round 
fipiires) . 

No.  of  Rej)re- 

sentativeM 

on 

Committee. 1 

Trade  Union  of 
which  repreBenta- 
tives  are  memberH. 

Seaplane  Department  " 

■ 

2 

Amalgamated      Car- 
penters  and   Join- 

- 

310- 

ers;    U.K.  Society 
of  Smiths. 

Seaplane  Erecting 
Paint  Shop 

160 

^ 

1 

Tool  Makers. 
U.K.       Society       of 
Coachmakers. 

New  Machine  Shop 

770 

2 

A.S.E.;             United 
Machine  Workers. 

Old  Machine  Shop 

Body  Shop             

340 
60 

2 
1 

A.S.E. 

Wood    Cutting    Ma- 
chinists. 

BtrippinjT  and  Examining 

Repair  Shop          

Smiths  Shop          

Detail  Shop           

70 
240 

30 
180 

1 

1 
1 
2 

A.S.E. 
A.S.E. 
A.S.E. 

A.S.E. ;                Sheet 
Metal  Workers. 

Finishing  Shop     

Trimming  Shop    

110 
60 

1 
1 

A.S.E. 

U.K.       Society       of 
Smiths. 

Aviation    Engine    Depart- 

200 

1 

A.S.E. 

ment. 

t'itting  Shop              

180 

1 

Steam      Engine 
Makers. 

Erecting  Shop       

Experimental   Department 
View  Room            

110 

30 

120 

1 
1 
1 

A.S.E. 
A.S.E. 

A.S.E. 

Molders  and  Pattern  Mak- 

50 

1 

Pattern  Makers. 

ers. 

1  The  rule  is  one  representative  for  each  department  whatever  its  size. 
The  exceptions  are  due  to  such  causes  as:  —  (a^  In  the  New  Machine 
Shop — one  is  allowed  for  each  turn,  day  and  night:  (h)  In  the  Detail 
Shop — a  body  of  workpeople  who  have  recently  been  removed  from  an- 
other department  into  this  shop  have  been  allowed  to  retain  their  rep- 
resentation. 


APPENDIX  G  383 

(G)  The  Horstmann  Gear  Company^  Limited, 
93,  Newbridge  Road,  Lower  Weston,  Bath, 

These  works  are  a  small  engineering  establishment  employing 
70-80  men  and  apprentices  and  14  women.  There  are  no  laborers. 
The  men  are  all  skilled  mechanics.     There  are  16  apprentices. 

The  Works  Committee  was  formed  in  the  autumn  of  1916.  It 
was  set  up  at  the  suggestion  of  the  management  in  order  to  ad- 
minister the  bonus  scheme  proposed  by  the  management,  in  re- 
sponse to  a  demand  by  the  employees  for  a  10  per  cent,  advance 
in  wages  in  the  autumn  of  1916. 

The  essentials  of  the  scheme  are  as  follows: — 

Each  month  a  sum  equal  to  5  per  cent,  on  the  wholesale  value  ap- 
pearing in  the  stock  book  of  the  viewed  and  passed  manufacturing 
output  for  the  previous  month,  and  the  works'  value  of  other  work 
done  during  the  previous  month,  is  set  aside  as  a  bonus  fund. 

Five  per  cent,  was  adopted,  as  that  was  the  percentage  on  the 
output  of  the  previous  month  represented  by  a  ten  per  cent,  ad- 
vance on  the  existing  current  wages  at  the  date  when  the  first  bonus 
was  paid. 

Every  employee  in  the  works,  except  the  two  Managers  and  the 
Secretary',  participate  in  the  bonus  according  to  the  number  of 
"profit-sharing  units"  to  which  he  or  she  is  entitled  under  the  scheme. 
Each  employee,  except  apprentices  for  whom  special  provision  is 
made,  is  entitled  to  one  "profit-sharing  unit"  for  each  halfpenny 
per  hour  of  the  employees'  time-rate,  up  to,  but  not  exceeding,  9d. 
per  hour,  and  two  units  for  each  completed  year  of  service  up  to 
five  years.  Examples : — An  employee  receiving  9d.  per  hour  and 
having  been  three  j^ears  with  the  firm  would  be  entitled  to  24  units; 
another,  receiving  Is,  3d.  per  hour  and  with  three  years'  service,  would 
also  receive  24  units;  and  another,  with  two  years'  service  and  re- 
ceiving Sd.  per  hour,  would  be  entitled  to  20  units. 

The  Committee  meets  regularly  each  month : — 

(i)   To  settle  the  amount  to  be  set  aside  for  payment  of  bonus. 

For  this  purpose  the  books  of  the  Company  are  opened  to  the 
Committee. 

(ii)   To  assess  the  value  of  the  profit-sharing  unit, 
(iii)   To    assess    the    fines    incurred    by    employees    under    the 
scheme.  1 

1  A  fine  of  a  certain  percentaee  of  the  Tinits  for  any  one  month,  with  a 
maximum  of  25  per  cent.,  may  be  inflicted  for  each  of  the  following 


384.  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

(iv)   To  determine  the  amount  of  bonus  to  which  each  employee 
is  entitled, 

2.  Constitution. — The  Committee  is  a  Joint  Committee,  repre- 
senting : — 

(i)   The  management, 
(ii)   The  employees. 

The  two  Works  Managers  and  the  Secretary  are  ex-ofjUcio  mem- 
bers. These  gentlemen  are  also  the  Managing  Directors  of  the 
Company. 

The  rest  of  the  Committee  consist  of  six  representatives  of  the 
employees,  elected  by  ballot  by  all  the  employees.  The  six  mem- 
bers represent  Ihe  works  as  a  whole.  Representation  is  not  based 
on  departments  or  on  grades  of  workers.  All  employees,  appren- 
tices, and  women  as  well  as  men,  are  voters. 

The  officers  consist  of  a  Chairman  and  a  Secretary.  The  of- 
ficers are  elected  by  the  Committee.  The  present  Chairman  is  the 
Chairman  of  the  Directors.  The  Chief  Clerk  has  been  elected  Sec- 
retary. 

The  Committee  meets  as  a  whole.  There  are  no  separate  meetings 
of  the  management  members  and  employee  members. 

The  present  elected  members  have  been  elected  for  an  indefinite 
term.  The  period  of  office  will  probably,  in  future,  be  six 
months. 

The  constitution  has  not  been  reduced  to  writing,  and  must  be 
regarded  as  tentative.  More  women  will  shortly  be  employed,  and 
it  is  intended  then  to  consider  the  separate  representation  of  women 
on  the  Committee. 

Only  one  of  the  employees  is  a  Union  member.  The  question  of 
relationship  to  the  Trade  Unions  has,  therefore,  not  arisen. 

The  Committee  has  recently  formed  a  "Works  Musical  Society, 
which  is  progressing  excellently.  A  canteen  wnll  shortly  be  estab- 
lished, and  it  is  intended  to  associate  the  Committee  with  its  manage- 
ment. 

3.  Functions  of  the  Committee. — The  Committee,  in  addition  to 
the  above-mentioned  special  duties,  is  charged  with  the  considera- 

ofTenses.  and  these  units  will  then  be  temporarily  forfeits  for  the  month 
in  question : — 

(a)  Insubordination,  or  use  of  improper  language. 

(b)  Undue  carelessness  and  wilful  damage. 

(c)  Neglect  to  enter  goods,  advices,  time  cards,  dockets  or  time  sheets. 

(d)  Waste  of  tools  and  materials. 

(e)  Waste  of  time  by   failing  to  work   full   weeks,   or   by  slackness. 
{/)    Refusal  to  work  a  reasonable  amount  of  overtime  when  requested 

without  sufficient  reason. 


APPENDIX  G  385 

tion  generally  of  any  grievances  arising  in  the  shop.  Its  functions 
in  this  respect  are  not  specified  or  limited.  The  Committee  has 
dealt  with  shop  conditions,  wages,  holidays  and  bad  timekeeping. 
It  discusses  any  questions  arising  in  the  works  which  are  considered 
suitable  for  discussion. 

4.  Procedure. — The  Committee  meets  regularly  each  month.  It 
meets  some  15  minutes,  or  so,  before  the  end  of  the  working  day, 
and  the  employee  members  are  paid  for  the  time  so  spent  up  to 
the  end  of  the  working  day.  Any  time  occupied  after  the  end  of 
the  working  day  is  not  paid  for. 

A  special  meeting  can  be  called  at  any  time  on  application  to 
the  management.     Time  spent  at  special  meetings  is  not  paid  for. 

Meetings  take  place  in  the  works. 

Meetings  are  summoned  informally  by  verbal  notice  to  the  mem- 
bers. 

The  length  of  meeting  varies  according  to  the  amount  of  business 
to  be  transacted. 

Minutes  are  regularly  kept  of  the  proceedings. 

5.  General. — No  arrangements  have  as  yet  been  worked  out  for 
keeping  the  Committee  in  touch  with  the  general  body  of  employees. 
The  necessity  for  such  arrangements  has  not  been  felt.  The  de- 
cisions of  the  Committee  apjiear  to  have  given  complete  satisfaction. 
Employees  are  not  bov;nd  to  report  grievances  to  the  Committee; 
if  they  wish  they  can  approach  the  management  direct.  Every 
facility  for  this  is  afforded  to  all  employees. 

The  value  of  the  unit  has  already  advanced  some  30  per  cent., 
and  is  expected  to  rise  rapidly  in  the  near  future  owing  to  improved 
methods  and  efficiency.  The  Committee  is  regarded  as  a  great  suc- 
cess, and  has  acted  as  a  great  incentive  to  efficiency  in  the  works  and 
in  furthering  increased  production. 

(H)   H.  0.   Strong  and  Sons,  Ltd.,  Norfolk  Works, 
St.  Paul's,  Bristol 

This  establishment  is  a  small  engineering  works  emplojring  about 
120  men,  women  and  boys. 

The  Managing  Director  personally  supervises  the  whole  of  the 
works,  and  very  close  personal  contact  is  maintained  between  the 
management  and  the  employees. 

1.  Origin. — For  several  years  prior  to  the  latter  part  of  1915 
the  Company  adopted  the  practice  of  meeting  the  whole  of  the  men 
employed  in  the  works,  once  a  month,  to  discuss  any  matters  con- 
nected with  the  establishment  that  seemed  to  require  examination. 


386  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

At  the  end  of  1915  this  practice  was  abandoned  because  it  was  felt 
by  the  management — 

(i)   That  much  time  was  wasted  discussing  irrelevant  and  un- 
important matters, 
(ii)   That  real  grievances  did  not  freely  come  out  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  whole  body  of  employees. 
The  last  meeting  of  tliis  character  took  place  towards  the  end  of 
1915,  and  at  this  meeting  the  Managing  Director  pointed  out  these 
objections  to  the  existing  practice,  and  suggested  that  a  Works  Com- 
mittee  should  be   constituted.     The  management   then   retired,   and 
the  proposal  was  discussed  by  the  employees  alone. 

The   employees   agreed   to   the   proposal,   and    proceeded   to   elect 
seven    representatives    to    form    an    Employees'    Committee,    which 
would  meet  as  a  Joint  Works  Committee  with  the  management. 
2.  Constitution. — The  Committee  is  composed  of: — 

(o)   Three   representatives   of   the    management    nominated    by 
the  Managing  Director,  namely — 
The  Managing  Director, 
Manager  of  the  Repair  Department, 
Works   Manager   of   the    Manufacturing   Depart- 
ments. 
(&)   Seven  representatives  of  the  employees. 
Representation  is  based  on  occupation,  not  on  the  department  in 
which  the  men  work. 

The  representatives  are  divided  as  follows: — 

1.  Laborers  (1). 

2.  Machinists  (1). 

3.  Turners   (1). 

4.  Millwrights  (1) 

5.  Patternmakers   (1) 

6.  Fitters  (1). 

7.  Apprentices   (1). 

Some  20  women  are  employed,  but  are  not  represented. 

Of  the  seven  representatives,  four  are  members  of  the  Amalga- 
mated Society  of  Engineers,  three  are  non-Unionists. 

The  employees'  representatives  are  appointed  at  an  annual  meet- 
ing of  all  the  employees  (other  than  women)  held  in  September. 
They  are  appointed  for  twelve  months. 

The  Managing  Director  has  been  elected  Chairman  of  the  Joint 
Committee. 

The  men's  representatives  meet  separately  as  an  Employees' 
Committee  for  the  purposes  mentioned  below  in  paragraph  4.     The 


APPENDIX  G  387 

Employees'  Committee  elects  one  of  its  members  as  Chairman.  The 
Chairman  acts  as  convenor. 

There  is  no  relation  between  the  Committee  and  the  Trade  Unions 
concerned.  A  Trade  Union  official,  as  such,  does  not,  therefore,  at- 
tend the  meetings,  but  one  of  the  Committee  is  the  shop  steward 
appointed  by  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers. 

No  constitution  of  the  Committee  has  been  definitely  formulated. 
It  is  at  present  experimental,  and  is  developing  in  accordance  with 
experience. 

3.  Functions  of  the  Committee. — Since  the  appointment  of  the 
Committee,  no  complaints  or  suggestions  come  direct  to  the  man- 
agement; the)'  are  first  taken  to  the  Employees'  Committee  as  ex- 
plained hereafter. 

The  Committee  has  dealt  with  the  following  classes  of  business: — 

Stoppage  of  bonus. 

General  discipline. 

Interpretation   of  ofificial   Orders  and   Circulars. 

Interpretation  of  Trade  Union  rules  and  regulations. 

Shop  conditions,  lavatories,  ventilation,  etc. 

Decisions  of  foremen. 

Timekeeping. 

Output  and  costs. 

Overtime. 

Grant  and  withholding  of  Leaving  Certificates. 
The  Committee  has  proved  specially  useful  as  a  means  of  arriving 
at  the  proper  interpretation  of  official  Orders  and  Circulars.  The 
operation  of  the  recent  Order  granting  a  bonus  of  I2V2  per  cent, 
to  certain  skilled  timeworkers  (the  Skilled  Time  Workers  (Engi- 
neers and  Molders)  Wages  Order,  1917)  was  discussed  at  the  last 
meeting,  and  its  operation  in  these  works  determined. 

4.  Procedure. — Complaints  or  suggestions  are  brought,  in  the 
first  instance,  to  the  attention  of  one  of  the  men's  representatives. 
Normally,  the  complaint  or  suggestion  is  made  to  the  representa- 
tive of  the  grade  to  which  the  person  making  the  complaint  or  sug- 
gestion belongs.  This  representative  then  notifies  the  Chairman  of 
the  Employees'  Committee,  who  asks  the  foreman's  consent  to  a 
meeting  of  the  Employees'  Committee  being  held,  and  arranges  with 
him  a  convenient  time.  The  members  are  then  notified  verbally  of 
the  time  and  place  of  meeting. 

A  meeting  is  held  as  soon  as  possible  after  receipt  of  the  com- 
plaint or  suggestion. 

The  meeting  takes  place  in  the  employers'  time. 


388  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

All  work  in  the  establishmont  is  paid  on  a  day  work  basis.  The 
men  are  paid  for  time  occupied  on  Committee  business. 

The  men's  meetings  are  of  short  duration,  and  are  held  in  the 
works. 

If  the  Employees'  Committee  can  deal  finally  with  the  question 
raised,  they  do  so.  If  not,  the  Chairman  of  the  Employees'  Com- 
mittee aprroaches  the  Manafjing  Director  as  Chairman  of  the  Joint 
Committee  and  asks  for  a  meeting  of  the  Joint  Committee.  These 
meetings  are  iield  in  the  firm's  time,  and  tlie  Committee  meets  in 
the  olliee  of  the  Managing  Director. 

Joint  meetings  occupy  from  half-an-liour  to  two  hours,  according 
to  the  amount  of  business  to  be  transacted. 

A  shorthand  typewriter  is  present  to  take  notes,  from  which 
regular  minutes  are  entered  up  in  a  minute  book. 

No  voting  takes  place. 

All  decisions  are  arrived  at  by  agreement. 

There  is  no  regular  time  for  holding  meetings  of  the  Joint  Com- 
mittee. Meetings  are  held  as  and  when  required,  and  are  held  as 
soon  as  possible  after  a  request  for  a  meeting  is  preferred  by  either 
the  management  or  the  Employees'  Committee. 

5.  Relations  with  Trade  Unions. — There  is  no  direct  relation  be- 
tween the  Committee  and  the  Trade  Unions. 

The  Unions  are  recognized  by  the  company,  and  all  Union  matters 
are  arranged  direct  between  the  management  and  the  Union  oflficials. 

The  Joint  Committee  is  only  concerned  with  Union  Rules  so  far 
as  affects  their  interpretation  in  relation  to  the  circumstances  of 
the  works. 

The  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers  have  a  shop  steward  in 
the  shop.  The  latter  is  a  member  of  the  Committee,  but  not  in  his 
ofltieial  capacity  as  shop  steward. 

No  difficulties  have  arisen  -with,  the  Unions. 

6.  General. — The  management  have  found  the  Committee  of  the 
greatest  service  in  conducting  the  business  of  the  works.  It  has 
obviated  the  necessity  of  posting  notices,  always  liable  to  be  mis- 
understood, in  many  instances.  A  good  output  has  been  maintained, 
and  no  trouble  has  arisen  in  the  works.  The  management  believe 
that  the  essential  point  in  presennng  good  relations  with  their  em- 
ployees is  to  ensure  an  open  and  full  understanding,  and  that  this 
can  only  be  secured  by  frequent  contact  with  every  section  of  opinion 
in  the  works. 

The  employees  find  tlie  Committee  of  advantage  to  them  because, 
instead  of  any  complaints  being  subject  to  the  whim  of  a  foreman 
or  the  ipse  dixit  of  a  manager,  the  matter  is  finally  decided  by  a 


APPENDIX  G  389 

Committee  of  their  own  mates,  or,  if  this  is  not  found  possible,  by 
a  joint  meeting  of  their  own  representatives  with  the  management. 
Moreover,  there  is  no  delay.  Rapidity  of  action  is  regarded  as 
essential  if  a  scheme  of  control  of  this  sort  is  to  work  satisfactorily. 
There  is  general  agreement  that,  in  a  small  meeting  of  nine  or 
ten  persons  meeting  informally,  men  have  no  hesitation  in  saying 
what  they  think,  and  it  is  thus  possible  to  gage  the  "temperature"  of 
the  shop  with  some  accuracy. 

(I)   Messrs.  Guest,  Keen  and  Nettlefold,  Ltd., 
Birmingham. 

Works — Engineering:  Screw,  nut,  bolt  and  rivet.  Employees 
(affected  by  the  scheme,  in  3  works),  2,500.  Departments,  some  50. 
General  labor,  about  Ys  of  the  whole.     Women  employees,  1,850. 

1.  There  are  five  separate  works  of  the  firm,  all  engaged  in  the 
same  business,  in  the  Bii-mingham  district.  Three  of  these  contigu- 
ous to  one  another  (Heath  Street,  Imperial  Mills,  and  St.  George's), 
are  fully  included  in  the  scheme  here  described.  The  two  others 
follow  the  same  lines,  but,  being  more  distant,  are  not  included  in 
the  actual  operation  of  the  scheme.  The  origin  of  the  scheme  was 
as  follows : — Early  in  1914  there  was  a  series  of  strikes  of  the 
women  employees,  and  these  strikes  affected  the  men  employees,  as 
machines  stood  idle,  work  was  not  ready,  and  wages  were  lost. 
The  result  was  that  the  men  also  struck.  When  matters  had  thus 
reached  a  deadlock,  a  mass  meeting  of  the  men  was  held  on  May 
9th,  1914,  which  was  attended  by  the  management,  and  at  this  meet- 
ing the  outlines  of  the  scheme  now  in  force  were  suggested.  Subse- 
quently a  mass  meeting  of  the  women  was  also  held,  and  the  manage- 
ment and  representatives  of  the  men  attended.  The  scheme  was 
again  propounded,  and  was  accepted  by  the  meeting.  Finally  a 
mass  meeting  of  men  and  women,  with  the  management  attending, 
was  held,  and  here  the  scheme  (that  there  should  be  no  strike  without 
consultation  of  the  firm,  and  meanwhile  the  machines  should  be  kept 
running,  and  there  should  be  an  Appeals  Committee  in  each  of  the 
three  contiguous  works)   was  accepted. 

2.  The  works  were  conducted  on  this  basis  for  over  two  years, 
down  to  August,  1916,  without  any  difficulty.  At  that  time  the 
question  arose  of  an  advance  in  wages  to  meet  the  rise  of  prices. 
The  matter  went  to  arbitration.  Negotiations  with  the  directors  took 
place,  and  in  December  they  accepted  the  scheme,  and  a  formal  agree- 
ment was  concluded  by  which  the  men,  as  a  society,  agreed  to  a 
signed  contract  that  they  would  not  strike  without  consultation  of  the 
firm,  and  received  in  return  a  system  of  Appeals  Committee  in  each 


390  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

of  the  tliree  works  and  a  central  control  board   for  all   the  three. 

3.  The  scheme,  whicii  came  in  to  full  working  in  December,  1916, 
embraces,  as  has  been  said,  three  works,'  indudiiifr  tfie  ^eater  part 
of  the  manutacluring  section;  but  the  engineering  section  (which 
contains  about  300  employees)  is  not  at  all  under  or  connected  with 
the  scheme,  its  members  belonging  to  various  other  societies.  The 
2,500  employees  of  the  manufacturing  section  of  the  three  works 
form  a  definite  Trade  Society  or  Union.  Few  of  them  before  the 
scheme  came  into  operation  were  members  of  a  Union ;  all  of  them 
are  now  mem})ers  of  the  new  Union.  This  new  Union  does  not  be- 
long to  any  Trades  Council  or  Allied  Trades  Committee;  its  strike 
rules  forbid  such  membership.  The  Union  is  thus  peculiar;  it  is 
a  small  Union  consisting  of  the  employees  of  a  single  firm. 

4.  The  Union,  as  has  been  said,  has  entered  into  a  definite  con- 
tract with  the  firm,  by  which  it  covenants  not  to  strike  without  con- 
sultation, and  to  keep  the  machines  running  meanwhile,  in  return  for 
certain  concessions.     The  first  of  these  is: — 

(a)  The  Appeals  Committee. — There  is  an  Appeals  Committee 
in  each  of  the  three  works.  Each  Committee  contains  men  and 
women  representatives,  elected,  one  for  each  section,  by  a  ballot 
among  the  employees  of  the  section ;  and  each  has  its  Chairman^  but 
the  Chairman  of  the  Central  Control  Board  often  presides  at  meet- 
ings of  the  different  Appeals  Committees.  The  Appeals  Commit- 
tees deal  with  questions  other  than  those  of  wages.  Their  province 
includes  lavatories,  canteen,  general  health  and  welfare;  but  they 
deal  mostly  with  shop  conditions  and  grievances.  Anj*  employee 
with  a  grievance  states  it  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  or  to 
one  of  its  members  who  reports  it  to  the  Chairman.  The  Chair- 
man then  sends  a  note  on  a  regular  form  to  invite  the  foreman  to 
meet  him  in  order  to  discuss  the  matter.  The  matter  may  be  settled 
at  such  a  meeting;  if  it  is  not,  it  goes  to  the  Appeals  Committee; 
and  if,  in  the  opinion  of  that  committee,  it  raises  questions  outside 
their  province,  it  is  referred  to — 

(&)  the  Central  Control  Board. — This  contains,  at  the  present 
time,  from  25  to  30  members,  including  men  and  women.  The 
members  are  nominated  by  the  different  Appeals  Committees,  sub- 

1  Two  other  works  of  the  firm  in  the  district  (Broad  Street  and  King's 
Norton)  are  not  included  in  the  scheme,  and  have  no  Appeal  Committee; 
but  the  wages  and  conditions  at  these  works  are  affected  and  largely 
controlled  by  the  system  in  force  at  three  contiguous  works.  One 
of  these  works  is  likely  to  come  fully  into  the  scheme,  as  its  site  is  to 
be  in  the  future  nearer  to  those  of  the  others;  the  other  is  out  in  the 
country,  and  so  outside  the  scheme. 


APPENDIX  G  391 

ject  to  ratification  by  a  general  meeting  of  the  works  concerned. 
(Meetings  of  800  are  not  at  all  uncommon;  the  employees  attend 
well,  as  there  is  a  rule  that  unless  two-thirds  are  present  there  is 
no  quorum  and  nothing  can  be  done.)  The  President  of  the  Cen- 
tral Control  Board  is  elected  by  the  whole  Society.  The  present 
President  has  been  in  industrj'  for  the  last  37  years,  and  has  had  a 
long  practical  experience  in  the  works  of  all  the  wage-questions 
which  form  the  staple  of  the  functions  of  the  Control  Board.  In  the 
handling  of  these  questions  the  usual  method  is  as  follows:  A 
wage-question  is  reported  to  the  President,  and  he  then  communi- 
cates with  the  management  in  writing.  If  it  is  a  question  of  local 
detail,  he  writes  to  the  works  manager  of  the  particular  works;  if 
it  is  a  question  of  a  general  kind,  he  writes  to  the  general  works 
manager.  The  manager  addressed  replies  to  the  President  in  writ- 
ing (but,  as  a  rule,  there  has  been  a  personal  interview  between  the 
two  before  the  reply  comes)  and  the  reply  is  reported  by  the 
President  to  the  Central  Control  Board.  If  the  reply  of  the  man- 
agement is  satisfactory'  to  the  Central  Control  Board,  the  matter, 
of  course,  ends ;  if  it  is  not,  the  Central  Control  Board  makes  further 
representations  to  the  management.  The  Control  Board  does  not 
meet  the  management;  the  relations  are  entirely  by  correspondence, 
supplemented  by  personal  interviews  between  the  President  and 
management. 

(c)  The  last  resort,  if  a  question  is  not  settled  between  the  Con- 
trol Board  and  the  management,  is  the  Conciliation  Board,  consist- 
ing of  two  representatives  of  the  management  and  two  of  the  Con- 
trol Board.  This  Board  has  never  acted  hitherto,  since,  under  the 
working  of  the  Munitions  Act,  questions  which  would  have  gone  to 
the  Conciliation  Board  under  normal  conditions  now  go  to  London 
for  settlement.  In  this  event  the  President  writes  to  the  Ministry 
of  Munitions  to  state  the  men's  case,  giving  a  copy  of  his  letter  to 
the  firm;  and  a  general  meeting  of  all  the  employers  affected  may 
be  held  before  tlie  letter  is  sent,  just  as  would  be  the  case  if  tlie 
normal  procedure  contemplated  in  the  rules  were  being  followed. 

5.  In  regard  to  the  general  working  of  the  system  the  following 
points  may  be  made : — 

The  firm  permits  anybody  to  see  the  President  in  the  works 
(another  workman  sees  to  his  machine  while  he  is  absent) ;  it  allows 
his  letters  to  go  by  the  works  mail;  it  has  supplied  him  with  a  desk 
beside  the  bench  at  which  he  works  and  facilities  for  keeping  his 
books  and  papers.  A  room  is  set  aside  in  which  he  can  have  inter- 
views, and  the  firm  provides  a  room  for  meetings  of  the  Appeals 
Committee  and  Control  Board.     The  management  is  always  ready 


392  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

to  si'f  tlie  President  when  he  asks  for  an  interview,  and  he  has  full 
liberty  to  go  anywhere  in  the  three  works,  without  asking  for  per- 
mission, in  order  to  interview  employees  or  committeemen  and  to 
discuss  grievances. 

As  has  been  mentioned,  any  grievance  between  an  employee  and 
an  overlooker  is  discus-i-d  between  the  Ciiairman  of  one  of  the 
Appeals  Committee  and  the  overlooker  concerned;  but  if  it  is  not  set- 
tled the  complainant  and  the  overlooker  apjx-ar  before  tiie  Appeals 
Conmiittee  and  both  state  their  case.  Tiie  Committee  decides  which 
of  the  parties  is,  in  tlieir  view,  in  the  right,  and  they  send  the  matter 
for  adjustment  to  the  management. 

The  work  of  the  President  under  the  scheme  is  unpaid. 

(J)  A  Firm  op  Electrical  Engineers 

This  establishment  is  an  engineering  works  employing  400  women, 
150  men  and  150  boys. 

About  40  of  the  men  are  skilled.  These  are  all  members  of  the 
Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers. 

The  establishment  is  almost  entirely  engaged  in  making  18- 
pounder  shells.  A  small  amount  of  private  work  is  done,  princi- 
pally heads  of  trolley  arms  for  electrically  propelled  tramcars. 

1.  Origin. — The  Works  Committee  was  established  in  the  autumn 
of  1915. 

It  was  brought  into  existence  to  assist  in  fixing  and  adjusting 
piece-work  prices. 

The  Committee  was  suggested  by  the  men  employed  at  the  works, 
and  the  local  delegate  of  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers  also 
recommended  the  establishment  of  the  Committee  to  the  Managing 
Director. 

2.  Constitution. — The  Committee  is  a  men's  committee  only.  It 
consists  of  5  men.  The  women  and  boys  are  not  represented.  The 
5  members  are  elected  by  the  shop  as  a  whole,  and  do  not  represent 
separate  dei^artraents  or  grades. 

The  constitution  of  the  Committee  has  not  been  reduced  to  writ- 
ing. It  is  at  present  experimental,  and  is  developing  in  accordance 
with  experience. 

3.  Functions  of  the  Committee. — The  principal  business  of  the 
Committee  is  to  assist  in  fixing  and  adjusting  piece-work  prices. 
The  questions  which  arise  on  this  score  are,  however,  not  compli- 
cated or  difheult,  as  the  establishment  has,  since  the  Committee  was 
formed,  been  engaged  almost  entirely  on  rejjetition  work.  The  man- 
agement, in  the  first  instance,  settle  what  they  consider  fair  prices. 


APPENDIX  G  393 

and  submit  them  to  the  Committee  with  the  data  on  which  they  have 
been  fixed.  The  men's  committee  then  meets  separately  to  consider 
the  suggested  prices.  Ample  time  is  allowed  them  to  consider  and 
discuss  the  matter,  both  among  themselves  and  with  the  workers 
affected.  A  joint  meeting  is  then  held  between  the  Committee  and 
the  management,  at  which  the  several  prices  under  consideration 
are  reviewed,  and  any  suggestions  as  to  amendment  are  considered. 
If  a  good  case  is  made  out  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  management  the 
price  is  raised  or  reduced.  If  it  becomes  necessary  to  reconsider 
the  price  already  fixed,  any  suggestions  on  this  score  are  brought 
by  the  Committee  to  the  attention  of  the  management,  and  are  jointly 
considered.  No  friction  of  any  sort  has  so  far  arisen.  Prices  have 
been  frequently  reduced  or  increased  by  mutual  agreement.  Under 
ordinary  conditions  of  work,  problems  arising  as  to  fixing  and  ad- 
justing piece-work  rates  will  be  more  difficult,  but  the  Managing 
Director  considers  that  they  can  be  best  dealt  with  on  the  lines 
above   indicated. 

No  limits  have  been  put  to  the  matters  with  which  the  Committee 
may  deal,  and  it  is  open  to  the  Committee  to  bring  forward  any  sug- 
gestions or  complaints  relating  to  the  management  of  the  shop. 

The   Committee   has  dealt  with  the   following  matters: — 
Ventilating  and  sanitary  questions. 
Complaints  as  to  the  decisions  of  foremen. 
Arrangement  of  shifts. 
Allocation  of  piece-work  and  day-work. 
Holidays. 

Alteration  of  hours  of  admission  to  the  works. 
Interpretation  of  official  orders  and  circulars. 

At  the  last  meeting  the  application  to  this  establishment  of  the 
Skilled  Time  Workers  (Engineers  and  Molders)  Wages  Order, 
1917,  was  discussed. 

The  Managing  Director  is  of  opinion  that  the  Committee  should 
also  be  charged  with  the  supervision  of  dismissals  and  reduction 
of  staff,  and  it  is  likely  that  steps  will  be  taken  to  utilize  the  services 
of  the  Committee  in  this  respect. 

The  Committee  deals  solely  with  domestic  questions  arising  in  the 
shop. 

4.  Procedure. — The  men's  committee  meets  separately  on  the  em- 
ployers' premises  and  in  the  employers'  time.  Time  spent  on  Com- 
mittee work  is  paid  by  the  employers.  On  request,  the  Committee 
meets  the  Managing  Director  and  the  Works  Manager. 

Requests  for  meetings  are  made  by  the  Committee  to  the  Works 
Manager. 


394  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Meetings  willi  the  management  take  place  in  the  firm's  time,  and 
time  is  paid. 

There  are  no  Hxed  times  for  meetings.  Meetings  either  of  the 
employees'  committee  or  joint  meetings  with  tlie  management  are 
held  at  such  times  as  may  be  found  necessary. 

On  any  business  arisinjj,  a  convenient  time  for  a  men's  committee 
or  a  meeting  witli  the  management  is  arranged  as  soon  as  possible, 
and  generally  upon  the  same  day. 

Meetings  are  called  informally  by  verbal  notice. 

Meetings  with  the  management  are  of  an  informal  character,  and 
the  men's  representatives  are,  if  necessary,  accompanied  by  the  local 
delegate  of  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers. 

5.  Relations  with  the  Trade  Unions. — There  is  no  official  relation 
between  the  Committee  and  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers. 
The  Union  is  recognized  by  the  company,  and  very  cordial  relations 
exist  between  the  management  and  the  Amalgamated  Society  of 
Engineers'  officials  in  the  district.  All  Trade  Union  matters  are 
dealt  with  direct  by  the  management  and  the  Union  officials.  No 
difficulties  of  any  sort  have  arisen  with  the  Union. 

6.  General. — The  Committee  is  regarded  by  the  management,  the 
men  and  the  Union  officials  of  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  En- 
gineers as  a  great  success.  The  management  have  found  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  greatest  sei^ice  in  conducting  the  business  of  the 
works.  The  Managing  Director  considers  the  existence  of  such  a 
Committee  as  essential,  and  strongly  supports  any  scheme  by  which 
the  workers  may  be  given  a  great  share  in  the  control  of  industry. 
In  his  opinion,  the  success  of  any  such  scheme  pivots  on  the  estab- 
lishment of  satisfactory  joint  works  committees. 

(K)    HOTCHKISS  ET  ClE.,  ARTILLERY  WORKS,  COVENTRY 

From  Official  Constitution  of  Works  Committee  as  Approved 
by  the  Miyiistry  of  Munitions. 

The  recognition  of  a  Shop  Committee,  such  Committee  to  be  com- 
posed of  Stewards  elected  by  their  representative  Dei)artments  by 
s;'eret  ballot  and  endorsed  by  their  respective  Union  District  Com- 
raittees. 

In  deciding  on  representation  the  principle  will  be  one  repre- 
sentative for  each  Department  having  not  less  than  approximately 
100  employees.  In  cases  of  smaller  Departments,  these  may  be 
grouped  together  and  representation  of  the  Departments  so  grouped 
will  be  on  the  same  basis.  No  employee  of  less  than  18  years  may 
vote. 


APPENDIX  G  395 

Functions  of  the  Committee: — 

(a)  To  provide  a  recognized  channel  of  communication  be- 
tween the  employees  and  the  management; 

(&)  To  present  to  the  management,  through  the  Chairman  of 
the  Committee,  any  grievance  or  suggestion  which, 
after  full  consideration,  they  think  worthy  of  the  firm's 
attention. 

Procedure. 

If  the  management  and  the  Committee  fail  to  agree,  and  on  all 
questions  of  principle,  negotiations  will  proceed  between  the  man- 
agement and  the  Union  as  hitherto.  The  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee will  have  facilities  to  consult  the  Union  local  officials. 

Failing  settlement  with  the  Union,  Part  1  of  the  Munitions  of 
War  Act,  1915,  will  apply. 

No  stoppage  of  work  will  occur  during  negotiations. 

Meetings  of  the  Committee  will  be  held  after  working  hours  un- 
less called  in  case  of  emergency  at  the  request  of  the  management. 

Note  from  Firm. — "The  Committee  came  into  existence  at  Easter, 
1917.  It  was  instituted  in  the  first  place  on  a  two  months'  trial 
and,  as  it  momentarily  achieved  its  object,  was  continued  until 
about  the  end  of  the  year.  The  constitution  of  the  Committee  then 
became  unacceptable  to  the  Shop  Stewards  and  the  Committee 
lapsed." 

(L)  A  Large  Engineering  Establishment 

1.  From  the  point  of  view  of  the  management. — A  Dilution  Com- 
mittee arose  in  1916  when  dilution  was  introduced.  There  were  no 
particular  rules  about  its  constitution.  At  the  end  of  1916,  after 
the  question  of  dilution  had  been  worked  out,  and  as  the  Committee 
commenced  to  take  up  other  questions,  the  firm  began  to  consider 
the  formal  institution  of  a  Works  Committee  in  place  of  this  in- 
formal Dilution  Committee.  The  Note  printed  below  gives  par- 
ticulars. 

A  Joint  Shop  Committee  was  set  up,  but  only  lasted  a  few 
months.  It  would  appear  that  the  really  crucial  question,  which 
led  to  the  dissolution  of  the  Joint  Committee,  was  the  position  of 
the  Shop  Stewards,  which  was  perhaps  not  properly  coordinated 
with  the  institution  of  the  Joint  Committee.  The  men  stood  out 
against  the  Committee  because,  in  their  view,  its  effect  would  be  to 
weaken  the  authority  of  the  Shop  Stewards.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  firm  has  always  in  practice  recognized  the  Shop  Stewards, 
though  in  the  institution  of  the  Shop  Committee  it  did  not  take 


396  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

thoir  position  specifically  into  account.  The  management  sees  them 
whenever  they  wish  it.  Generally,  they  come  in  twos — a  Convenor 
attending  with  the  Shop  Steward  of  the  department  from  which 
the  complaint  is  brouglit.  This  still  goes  on;  and,  thc-refure,  tiiough 
(he  Committee  is  dead,  the  principle  of  such  a  Committee  still  lives. 
Generally,  it  is  true,  the  Shop  Steward  goes  to  the  foreman  first 
with  a  complaint;  but  he  can  come  straight  to  the  management 
if  he  is  dissatisfied  with  the  foreman's  answer. 

2.  From  the  point  of  view  of  the  men. — The  same  people  were 
Shop  Stewards  and  members  of  the  Shop  Committee,  but  they  pre- 
ferred to  act  in  the  former  capacity.  One  reason  for  this  prefer- 
ence was  curious  but  natural.  There  were  24  Shop  Stewards  in  the 
establishment;  there  were  only  nine  representatives  of  the  men  on 
the  Joint  Committee,  as  the  management  held  the  view  that  the 
Committee  must  not  be  so  large  as  to  be  unwieldy.  The  15  Shop 
Stewards  who  were  excluded  from  the  Committee  were  discon- 
tented. 

3.  The  last  straw  which  broke  down  the  Joint  Committee  was  a 
curious  thing.  It  was  a  question  of  the  washing  of  women's  over- 
alls. The  women  had  agitated  (or  been  agitated)  about  the  mat- 
ter; it  was  brought  before  the  Committee;  the  men  took  umbrage 
at  a  long  discussion  of  such  a  matter,  and  the  end  came. 

In  spite  of  this  failure,  both  management  and  men  appear  to  be 
in  favor  of  the  idea  of  a  Joint  Committee. 

Note. 
Joint  Shop  Committee 

It  is  proposed  to  form  a  Joint  Shop  Committee  for  the  purpose 
of  mutual  discussion  of  shop  questions,  with  a  view  to  securing 
harmonious  relations  and  efficiency  in  the  working  conditions  of  the 
establishment. 

The  Committee  will  consist  of  representatives  elected  by  ballot 
by  the  workmen  and  women  of  the  various  departments,  arranged 
in  nine  divisions  as  shown  below,  one  representative  to  each  division. 
The  firm  will  be  represented  by  the  Directors  and  Departmental 
Managers.  The  Committee  will  have  i)ower  to  cocipt  any  employee 
or  works  official  for  attendance  at  any  meeting  where  such  attendance 
may  be  necessary. 

A  first  ballot  will  be  taken  in  each  department,  each  employee 
being  at  liberty  to  nominate  a  candidate  for  his  department.  The 
two  candidates  receiving  the  largest  number  of  nomination  papers 
will  be  selected  for  the  final  ballot,  and  the  nominee  receiving  the 


APPENDIX  G  397 

larger  number  of  votes  in  the  final  ballot  will  be  the  elected  repre- 
sentative of  the  department. 

It  is  suggested  that  the  representatives  should  hold  office  for  six 
months.  A  payment  of  2s.  6d.  per  meeting  attended  will  be  paid 
to  each  representative  by  the  firm. 

The  Committee  will  meet  on  the  first  Thursday  of  eacli  month 
at  5  p.  m.,  or  as  may  be  required. 

The  scheme  is  a  purely  domestic  one,  and  is  an  attempt  by  the 
firm  to  provide  a  more  direct  means  of  communication  with  their 
employees  in  all  matters  affecting  their  conditions  and  the  develop- 
ment of  the  establishment  generally.  The  Directors  invite  the  co- 
operation and  interest  of  the  employees  in  the  scheme,  and  trust 
that  each  individual  will  register  his  vote  according  to  his  judg- 
ment, in  order  to  make  the  Joint  Committee  thoroughly  representa- 
tive. 

The  ballot  will  be  secret,  so  that  no  parties  will  be  in  a  position 
to  ascertain  how  any  worker  has  voted.  Intimation  will  be  made 
to  each  department  when  the  first  ballot  will  take  place.  The  ar- 
rangements in  connection  with  the  election  and  voting  will  be  car- 
ried out  by  the  existing  Joint  Shop  Committee. 

(M)  A  Munitions  Factory 

The  company  owns  two  factories  and  manages  two  others,  and 
altogether  employs  about  ten  thousand  workers.  Its  products  are 
ammunition  of  various  kinds  for  Naval  and  Military  purposes. 

This  note  only  refers  to  one  of  their  factories,  in  which  there  are 
four  thousand  employees,  of  whom  one  thousand  five  hundred  are 
women.  One  hundred  of  the  males  are  general  laborers,  the  rest 
being  skilled  or  semi-skilled. 

The  Works  Committee  was  formed  in  May,  1917,  and  consists  of 
twenty-one  members.  It  is  composed  of  and  is  elected  by  the  men, 
the  election  taking  place  at  shop  meetings.  At  present  the  women 
have  no  representative  and  no  vote  in  the  elections.  Nevertheless, 
the  women  have  laid  certain  matters  affecting  them  before  the  Com- 
mittee for  consideration,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Committee  is  in 
touch  with  the  Organizer  of  the  National  Federation  of  Women 
Workers,  and  should  need  arise  would  deal  with  the  Women's  Sec- 
tion of  the  Workers'  Union,  or,  indeed,  any  organization  of  female 
labor. 

There  is  no  rule  excluding  non-Unionists,  but,  in  fact,  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Committee  are  Trade  Unionists. 

The  Committee  meets  weekly  on  Tuesdays  at  supper-time   {i.e., 


398  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

in  the  men's  own  time).  In  cases  of  real  urgency  the  general  man- 
ager gives  permission  for  meetings  in  the  company's  time. 

The  Committee  has  a  Secretary,  who  is  largely  responsible  for 
the  work  transacted.  He  communicates  the  recommendations  of  the 
Committee  to  the  general  manager  through  the  company's  labor 
officer. 

The  Committee,  though  perhaps  not  forrnally  recognized  by  the 
company,  is,  in  practice,  treated  as  a  body  with  which  negotiations 
can  be  concluded. 

The  general  procedure  is  as  follows: — 

Matters  for  the  consideration  of  the  Committee  are  reduced  to 
Wxiting  and  brought  up  at  a  meeting.  They  are  then  discussed. 
In  many  cases  the  Committee  are  able  to  give  advice  or  instructions 
on  the  matter  without  any  reference  to  the  management.  Should 
it  be  decided  that  in  the  opinion  of  the  Committee  some  alteration 
should  be  made,  the  labor  officer  is  requested  to  lay  the  matter  be- 
fore the  general  manager,  who  frequently  discusses  the  subject  with 
the  Secretary  before  coming  to  a  decision. 

Should  the  matter  be  deemed  to  be  very  important  or  of  a  funda- 
mental character  the  Committee  request  the  general  manager  to  re- 
ceive a  deputation. 

Up  to  the  time  of  writing  the  working  of  this  Committee,  as 
guided  by  its  present  Secretary,  is  considered  by  the  company  as 
most  helpful.  It  has  settled  many  alleged  grievances  without  any 
trouble,  has  prevented  several  threatened  strikes,  and  generally 
tended  to  smooth  and  harmonious  working  in  the  factory. 

The  success  of  the  whole  scheme  is  largely  due  to  the  tact  and 
good  sense  of  both  the  company's  labor  officer  and  the  Works  Com- 
mittee's Secretary. 

In  conclusion  it  should  be  stated  that  before  the  formation  of 
the  Works  Committee  many  consultations  had  to  take  place  between 
employees  and  their  respective  Unions  to  settle  minor  points.  This 
procedure  has  now  been  found  unnecessary,  as  the  operation  of  the 
Committee  so  far  has  made  it  easy  for  both  small  and  great  mat- 
ters to  be  ventilated  and  promptly  dealt  with  with  the  least  possible 
friction  and  delay. 

(N)  Whitehead  Torpedo  Works  (Weymouth),  Ltd.,  Weymouth 

The  following  summary  contains  part  of  a  memorandum  sent  to 
the  representatives  of  13  trade  unions.  A  letter,  which  accompanied 
the  memorandum,  suggested  that  a  general  meeting  of  delegates  of 
each  organized  society  in  the  works  should  be  called  to  discuss  with 
tilt'  firm  the  formation  and  constitution  of  the  proposed   Council. 


APPENDIX  G  399 

The   proposals   are   now   under   discussion   by   the   trade   unionists. 

In  the  memorandum  the  firm  suggest : — 

"That  the  existing  trade  union  organizations  may  be  made  the 
basis  of  a  general  Council,  of  reasonable  size,  representing  every 
union  in  the  works,  and  given  the  fullest  possible  powers  to  take 
decisions,  subject,  of  course,  to  reference  to  the  constituent  branches 
on  any  issue  of  sufficient  importance." 

They  then  state  that : — 

"The  firm's  aim  is  to  associate  (through  a  Council  appointed  in 
such  a  way  as  to  recognize  and  strengthen  the  position  of  the  exist- 
ing trade  organizations)  the  whole  body  of  workers  in  everything 
that  concerns  their  well-being,  discipline,  and  control,  and,  by  stir- 
ring in  each  individual  the  sense  of  his  responsibility  towards  the 
State,  the  industry  and  the  works,  to  enable  such  a  Council  to  secure 
loyal  compliance  with  any  decision  arrived  at  conjointly  with  the 
firm." 

A  program  of  subjects  is  thereafter  given  as  a  basis  for  dis- 
cussion. 

(1)  Hours  of  Work. — The  proposal  of  a  50-hour  week  on  the 
one-break  day  system  was  defeated  when  voted  upon  in  May.  Some 
men  appear  to  have  thought  the  adoption  of  a  50-hour  week  would 
prejudice  the  introduction  of  a  48-hour  week  after  the  war.  The 
firm  is  strongly  in  favor  of  a  48-hour  week,  but  in  regard  to  that 
cannot  act  without  reference  to  the  agreements  between  the  Engi- 
neering Employers'  Federation  and  the  Trade  Unions. 

A  full  explanation  of  the  one-break  day  is  given  and  arguments 
in  its  favor  added.  This  section  ends:  "The  firm  has  not  had  any 
other  or  better  proposal  put  before  it  for  this  purpose,  and  there- 
fore raises  the  question  again  for  reconsideration.  It  is  further 
proposed  that,  six  months  after  the  adoption  of  the  one-break,  a 
referendum  by  ballot  should  be  taken  as  to  whether  the  old  system 
of  hours  should  be  gone  back  to  or  not." 

(2)  Time-keeping. — "The  question  of  time-keeping  is  the  one 
that  has  gone  nearest  to  impairing  the  excellent  relations  with  its 
employees  that  the  firm  values  so  highly;  but  it  is  felt  that  here 
again  the  facts  have  not  been  rightly  understood  by  every  one." 

There  follows  a  discussion  of  causes.  The  management  have  now 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  greatest  effect  has  been  produced 
by  the  institution  of  an  "open  gate"  and  the  relaxation  of  the  official 
Works'  Rules. 

"The  exact  form  that  the  gate  rules  will  finally  take  is  subject  to 
consideration,  and  is  much  influenced  by  the  concurrent  question 
of  the  one-break  day;  but,  in  its  old  form,  the  "open  gate"  has  been 


400  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

tried  and  fdund  wanting,  and,  one  way  or  another,  something  else 
must  take  its  phice." 

(3)  Release  of  Diluted  Labor. — "The  firm  is  prepared  to  invite 
colhiboration  from  the  proposed  Council,  or  sectional  Committees 
representinj^  tlie  individual  trades  concerned,  both  as  regards  the 
selection  of  suital)le  operations  on  to  -wliicli  to  put  unskilled  labor, 
;md  as  regards  the  individuals  to  be  released  for  skilled  work  else- 
where." 

(4)  Fixing  of  Piece-work  Prices. — In  order  to  facilitate  the  fix- 
ing of  prices  satisfactorily  to  employer  and  employee  it  is  pro- 
posed : — 

"It  would  be  one  of  the  functions  of  such  a  Council,  as  is  suggested 
in  this  memorandum,  to  set  \ip  an  organization  whereby  reliable 
times  for  piece-work  operations  would  be  ascertained,  checked,  and 
counter-checked  by  both  parties.  This  organization  would  prevent 
such  occurrences  as  a  recent  suggestion  of  50  minutes  for  a  particu- 
lar new  operation.  A  trial  made  by  the  management  showed  that 
six  minutes  was  an  ample  allowance.  If  such  trials  were  made  by 
a  Joint  Committee  (or  in  their  presence)  prices  could  be  settled 
more  rapidly,  and  with  less  danger  of  unfairness,  or  discontent  on 
either  side,  afterwards." 

"The  same  organization  could  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  making 
clear  to  what  extent  a  job  becomes  a  new  one  by  some  alteration  in 
design,  material,  or  method  of  manufacture." 

(5)  General  Rules  and  Regulations. — "There  is  a  class  of  rules, 
offenses  against  which  are  punishable  by  a  fine  of  2s.  6d.,  dismissal, 
or  a  prosecution  under  the  Munitions  Acts. 

None  of  these  penalties  is  a  convenient  one.  Fines  are  as  much 
disliked  by  the  firm  as  by  the  men;  dismissal  entails  the  loss  of 
services  which  may  be  badly  needed;  and  prosecutions  entail  great 
waste  of  time  and  may  produce  more  evils  than  the  original  ones 
they  are  meant  to  cure. 

Many  of  tliese  offenses  and  some  others  could  probably  be  dealt 
with  more  satisfactorily  by  such  a  Council  as  outlined  above.  In- 
stances of  them  are : — 

Clocking  in  too  soon,  fraudulent  clocking,  and  registering  an- 
other man's  time. 
Not  keeping  at  work  till  knocking-off  time. 
Leaving  work  without  permission  of  foreman. 
Idling  in  the  works. 

Entering  or  leaving  the  works  otherwise  than  by  the  main  en- 
trance. 
Bringing  in  liquor. 


APPENDIX  G  401 

Gambling  in  the  works. 

Taking  jjart  in  disturbances,  using  abusive  language,  and  re- 
fusing to  obey  lawful  orders. 
All  the  above  are  offenses  under  the  Works'  Rules,  permission  to 
post  which  has  been  given  by  the  Ministry  to  the  firm  as  a  Con- 
trolled Establishment.  They  have  hung  in  the  main  entrance  since 
1915,  and  are  still  in  force,  but  every  one  of  them  is  broken  from 
time  to  time." 

(0)  A  Shipbuilding  Yard 

The  present  number  of  employees  is  about  2,400,  of  whom  some 
200  are  women. 

The  system  in  operation  at  this  yard  (and  the  same  methods 
apply  at  the  firm's  engine  works)  is  particularly  interesting  in  view 
of  the  comparatively  long  time  during  which  it  has  been  working, 
and  in  view  also  of  its  success  in  fostering  good  relations  between 
the  firm  and  the  men.  More  than  30  years  ago  an  elaborate  system 
of  rules  for  the  yard  were  drawn  up  by  the  firm  in  consultation 
with  delegates  from  the  trades,  conferences  between  members  of 
the  firm,  officials  of  the  firm  and  delegates  from  the  various  trades 
in  the  yard,  being  held  for  this  purpose  on  five  dates  in  1885  and 
on  two  in  1886.  These  "Rules"  form  a  printed  booklet  of  36  pages, 
and  each  employee  on  joining  the  yard  for  the  first  time  can  be  fur- 
nished with  a  copy.  In  an  address,  delivered  by  one  of  the  late 
senior  members  of  the  firm,  at  the  close  of  one  of  the  conferences 
(on  21st  January,  1885),  there  is  contained  the  following  statement: 
"I  think  I  am  right  in  saying  that  the  step  taken  by  this  firm  in 
asking  their  workmen  to  join  with  them  in  the  preparation  of  the 
rules  of  this  yard  is  a  new  step  in  the  history  of  labor.  I  cannot 
find,  from  anything  I  have  heard  or  read,  that  any  firm  pi'evious 
to  my  own  firm  has  asked  the  men  in  their  employ  to  join  with 
them  in  the  preparation  of  the  rules  by  which  these  men  were  to 
be  governed."  The  revision  of  these  Yard  Rules  has  been  a  subject 
of  conference  at  various  dates  since  1886.  The  present  edition  of 
the  rules  is  divided  into  five  sections: — Section  I  is  sul)-divided  into 
(i)  General,  (ii)  Decauville  Railway,  (iii)  Timekeeping  and  Piece- 
work, (iv)  Regarding  Apprentices,  (v)  Against  Accidents,  (vi) 
Against  Dishonesty,  and  (vii)  Final.  Section  II  deals  with  the  ad- 
mission of  (i)  Apprentices  to  Drawing  Office,  (ii)  Boys  as  Appren- 
tice Clerks,  (iii)  Girls  as  Apprentices  in  Tracing  Departments,  (iv) 
Girls  as  Apprentices  in  the  Decorative  Department,  and  (v)  Girls 
as  Apprentices  in  Upholstery  and  Polishing  Departments.  Section 
III  gives  the  rules  for  the  guidance  of  the  Committee  of  Awards. 


40a  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Section  IV  gives  the  rules  referring  to  Subscriptions.  Section  V 
gives  the  Fire  Brigade  Rules.  There  is  a  separate  book  of  rules  for 
the  Accident  Fund. 

Conferences  similar  to  those  of  1885-6  have  been  held  from  time 
to  time  since,  and  have  developed  into  a  Workers'  Committee.  The 
members  of  the  conference  at  Hrst  represented  trades,  and  may  still 
do  so,  but  not  necessarily.  Each  department  chooses  one  or  two 
representatives,  and  these  representatives  may  or  may  not  be  Trade 
Unionists  or  Shop  Stewards. ^ 

The  composition  of  the  Committee  to-day  is  as  follows: — 

No.  of 
Trade.  Delegates. 

Painters    1 

Engineers,  Cranemen,  etc 2 

Blacksmiths     2 

Joiners    ( I'pholsterers )     2 

Plumbers    1 

Tinsmiths     2 

Riveters    1 

Laborers   1 

Electricians   1 

Iron  Carpenters   1 

Wood  Carpenters   1 

Caulkers   1 

Drillers    1 

Fitters     2 

Foremen   2 

Drawing  Ollice    1 

Coiinting  House   1 

23 


The  above  is  the  composition  of  the  Committee  when  it  meets 
the  management  in  what  may  be  called  formal  meetings.  There 
are,  however,  no  set  meetings,  and  in  addition  to  the  formal  meet- 
ings much  business  is  done  between  the  firm  and  the  Chairman  of 
the  delegates;  and,  in  matters  affecting  a  particular  trade,  between 
the  firm  and  the  delegates  from  that  trade.  In  the  last  24  years 
the  formal  meetings  have  averaged  three  a  year,  but  in  the  last  tliree 
years  there  have  been  20  meetings,  or  an  average  of  seven  a  year. 

The  delegates  hold  shop  meetings  to  report  results  of  meetings 

1  The  majority  of  the  delegates  are  trade  unionists  and  official  yard 
delegates  for  their  unions,  though  not  elected  to  the  Committee  as  such. 


APPENDIX  G  403 

with  the  management,  and  meet  the  management  again,  and  so  on 
until  agreement  is  reached. 

One  of  the  delegates  acts  as  Convenor  or  Chairman,  and  as  the 
link  between  the  delegates  and  the  management.  For  the  formal 
meetings  with  the  firm,  one  of  the  firm's  shorthand  clerks,  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  delegates,  acts  as  Secretary. 

The  subjects  dealt  with,  in  what  have  been  called  "formal  meet- 
ings," cover  a  wide  range: — they  have  included  the  revision  of 
Yard  Rules  originally  made  in  conference;  unemployment  questions 
— e.g.,  the  purchase  by  the  firm  of  an  old  vessel  so  as  to  employ 
idle  men,  and  subscriptions  to  an  unemployed  fund;  timekeeping — 
men  leaving  their  work  before  the  horn  blows;  arrangements  for 
paying  the  men — e.g.,  earlier  payment  for  big  squads  where  di- 
vision has  afterwards  to  be  made  among  the  members  of  the  squad; 
arrangement  of  holidays;  subscriptions  to  various  funds  and  chari- 
ties, including  joint  funds  for  augmenting  Government  allowances 
to  soldiers'  deiDcndents;  provision  of  canteens  and  of  supply  of 
carried  food  warming  appliances,  and  of  ambulance  transport  for 
injured  men ;  distribution  of  coal  supplied  from  firm's  yard  during 
1912  coal  strike  to  inhabitants  of  town  (this  was  worked  by  dele- 
gates themselves  under  chairmanship  of  one  of  the  partners) ;  sub- 
scriptions to  War  Loan;  and  dilution  of  labor. 

When  the  firm  joined  the  Employers'  Association,  about  1906, 
the  fact  was  formally  put  before  the  men's  delegates. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  list  covers  not  only  general  industrial  ques- 
tions, shop  grievances,  &c.,  but  also  questions  of  welfare.  (There 
is  a  Welfare  Supervisor  for  the  some  200  women  employers,  and  a 
boy's  Welfare  Supervisor  for  all  the  apprentices  and  young  lads. 
He  has  formed  a  Cadet  Corps  mostly  from  amongst  them.) 

All  the  questions  discussed  are  general  questions,  since,  as  has 
already  been  remarked,  the  questions  of  a  particular  trade  are  ar- 
ranged between  the  firm  and  the  representatives  of  that  trade.  In 
these  latter  questions  the  failure  to  agree  would  mean  that  the  mat- 
ter became  one  between  the  firm  and  the  particular  Trade  Union 
concerned. 

The  Awards  Scheme. — The  firm  have  had  in  operation  since  1880 
an  Awards  Scheme,  under  which  any  worker  (exclusive  of  head 
foremen,  officials  of  the  Committee  of  Awards,  and  heads  of  de- 
partment) may  claim  an  award  for  improvements  and  inventions. 
The  scheme  was  introduced  by  one  of  the  late  senior  members  of 
the  firm.  The  rules  for  the  guidance  of  the  Committee  of  Awards 
form  Section  III  of  the  Yard  Rules.  The  Committee  consists  of 
an  outside  and  independent  person  as  President,  the  Manager  of 


MH  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

tlu;  Yard,  and  I  lie  Manager  or  Chief  Draughtsman  ol"  the  Engine 
Works,  with  a  elerk  irorn  the  counting  iiouse  as  secretary.  The 
rules  are  elaborate,  and  designed,  among  other  things,  to  do  justice 
as  between  dill'erent  claiiuaiils.  The  average  number  of  claims  is 
stated  to  fluctuate  very  much  from  year  to  year.  In  certain  cases 
where  patents  have  been  secured,  the  amounts  received  by  individuals 
have  run  into  hundreds  of  pounds.  In  the  case  of  patents,  the  in- 
ventors usually  ask  that  one  of  the  firm  should  be  joined  with 
them,  and  share  partly  in  the  gains.  The  reply  of  one  inventor, 
when  he  was  asked  why  this  was  so,  is  compounded  of  Scotch  cau- 
tion and  good  feeling  and  trust.  It  was:  "Naebody  kens  my  name, 
but  a'body  kens  yours." 

The  Accident  Fund  Society. — This  Society,  established  43  years 
ago  by  mutual  agreement  between  the  firm  and  their  workmen,  was, 
in  1897,  used  as  a  basis  for  contracting  out  of  the  Employers'  Li- 
ability Act  of  1880,  and  the  Workmen's  Compensation  Act  of  1897, 
and  has  since  been  amended  to  conform  to  the  Act  of  1906.  It  is 
governed  by  a  Joint  Committee  of  22  managers,  with  an  inde- 
pendent Chairman.  Eleven  are  chosen  by  the  workmen  and  eleven 
chosen  by  the  firm;  the  latter  comprise  four  partners,  one  manager, 
and  six  foremen  or  members  of  office  staff.  Four  of  the  works 
delegates  are  also  managers  of  the  Accident  Fund — two  of  these 
being  trade  delegates  and  the  other  two  being  the  foremen  dele- 
gates. The  funds  are  provided  in  two  ways.  Fund  No.  1,  to  meet 
the  legal  provisions  of  compensation  imposed  by  the  Acts,  is  pro- 
vided entirely  by  the  fiiin.  Fund  No.  2,  which  provides  extra 
benefits,  such  as  solatium  for  loss  of  minor  portions  of  the  body, 
for  which  no  lump  sum  compensation  could  be  demanded  under  the 
Acts,  is  provided  from  the  contributions  of  the  members  and  the 
payments  of  the  firm,  and,  in  addition,  from  the  fines  imposed  in 
accordance  with  the  Yard  Rules.  The  particular  interest  of  these 
fines,  which  like  the  other  features  of  the  rules  are  carefully  de- 
tailed, is,  that  not  only  are  they  paid  into  the  Accident  Fund,  and 
so,  though  taken  from  the  individual,  returned  to  the  workpeople 
as  a  whole,  but,  in  addition,  in  each  case  of  a  fine  the  firm  pays  an 
equivalent  amount  into  the  fund.  The  firm  in  fining  an  individual 
fines  itself  to  the  same  extent,  and  the  double  fine  goes  to  the  Acci- 
dent Fund. 

The  firm  lay  great  stress  upon  the  fact  that  this  system  of  yard 
delegates  has  gradually  developed  on  voluntary  lines  as  the  need 
for  it  was  felt.  In  all  cases  the  delegates  simply  ask  to  see  the 
management  when  they  so  desire,  and  may  meet  several  or  only 
one  of  the  managers,  as  the  case  may  be.     (There  is  no  question 


APPENDIX  G  405 

of  equality  of  numbers  of  firm's  representatives  and  men's,  except 
in  the  Accident  Fund.) 


(P)  Parkgatb  Works  Joint  Trades  Committee 
I 

RULES   FOR  WORKS   COMMITTEE 

1.  That  this  organization  be  called  "The  Parkgate  Works  Joint 
Trades  Committee." 

2.  That  the  objects  of  the  Committee  are: — 

(a)  To  strengthen  Trade  Union  organization  in  the  works. 

(b)  To  deal  with  general  questions  affecting  the  welfare  of  all 

sections  in  the  works. 

(c)  To  give  assistance  to  branches  in  sectional  disputes  where 

the  branches  fail  to  arrive  at  a  settlement  with  the  firm. 

(d)  To  keep  a  watchful  eye  on  representation  on  local  bodies, 

and  to  see  that  the  workmen  employed  by  the  firm  are 
not  overlooked. 

(e)  To  do  whatsoever  it  can  to  promote  a  closer  union  of  the 

different  trades  represented  in  the  works. 

3.  That  branches  be  allowed  representation  as  follows : — i 
Membership  of  50 — one  delegate, 

Membership  over  50 — two  delegates. 

4.  That  the  branches  be  asked  to  appoint  alternative  delegates, 
and  forward  their  names  to  the  Secretary  together  with  the  names 
of  the  delegates  appointed. 

5.  Any  body  of  trade  unionists  working  in  any  department,  but 
whose  branch  is  out  of  tlie  works,  may  have  representation  on  the 
same  basis  as  branches. 

6.  The  President  and  Secretary  shall  be  empowered  to  call  a 
meeting  of  the  Committee  to  deal  with  any  matter  which  arises, 
or  may  arise,  affecting  the  welfare  of  the  branches. 

7.  Any  delegate  or  branch  may  have  a  meeting  called  by  giving 
notice  to  the  Secretary,  stating  the  business  they  wish  to  bring  be- 
fore the  Committee. 

8.  That  a  delegation  fee  of  one  shilling  per  delegate  per  year  be 
paid  to  tlie  Committee. 

9.  That   where  sectional  disputes   are   dealt  with   by   Committee, 

1  With,  in  addition,  the  Secretary  of  each  branch,  if  employed  in  the 
worI<s,  ex  officio. 


406  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

deputations  to  the  Management  shall  consist  of  two  representatives 
of  the  Committee  and  one  from  the  section  affected. 

10.  That  the  Secretary  be  ex  olficio  member  of  tlie  Committee. 

11.  No  person  allowed  to  sit  on  tlie  Committee  unless  authorized 
to  do  so  by  his  branch  and  certified  by  the  branch  secretary. 

12.^  That  in  the  event  of  any  claim  being  made  or  dispute  which 
affects  the  interests  of  more  than  one  section  of  the  works,  such 
cases  shall  be  dealt  with  by  the  Trade  Unions  concerned  and  the 
Joint  Trades  Committee. 

II 

Fourteen  trade  union  branches  are  represented  on  the  Committee. 
Seven  of  the  fourteen  have  no  members  employed  outside  the  Park- 
gate  Works.  The  seven  are: — Four  branches  of  the  Iron  and  Steel 
Trades  Confederation,  and  a  branch  eacii  of  the  Blastfurnacemen, 
the  Enginemen  and  Cranemen,  and  the  General  Laborers.  Together 
these  seven  branches  represent  about  1,600  persons  in  the  works. 
Six  of  them  have  three  representatives  on  the  Committee;  in  each 
case  the  secretary  of  the  branch  is  one  of  the  representatives.  The 
seven  trade  union  branches  having  only  part  of  their  membership 
"within  the  works  are : — The  Bricklayers,  the  Amalgamated  Society 
of  Engineers,  the  Blacksmiths,  the  Holders,  the  Boilermakers,  the 
Roll  Turners  and  the  Carpenters  and  Joiners;  together  these  seven 
branches  represent  about  200  persons  in  the  works.  Four  of  them 
have  two  representatives,  including  the  secretary  in  each  case,  and 
three  one  representative  on  the  Committee.  Altogether,  therefore, 
the  Committee  consists  of  31  persons  including  the  secretaries  of  11 
of  the  24  branches. 

Rule  4,  relating  to  alternative  delegates,  is  stated  to  be  necessary 
because  some  men,  for  example  the  first  hand  at  a  smelting  furnace, 
cannot  leave  their  work  at  certain  times. 

The  Committee  was  formed  in  January.  1916.  An  attempt  to 
form  a  Committee  had  been  made  in  1913,  but,  owing  to  the  slight 
support  given  to  it,  this  Committee  lasted  for  a  few  months  only. 
The  influences  which  produced  the  present  Committee  were  the 
recognition  of  common  needs  and  the  desire  for  harmony  {see  Rule 
2).  The  particular  incident  from  whicli  its  inception  took  place 
was  a  meeting  called  to  nominate  a  representative  from  the  work- 
people to  the  local  military  tribunal. 

Among  the  subjects  which  the  Committee  has  discussed  are  in- 
cluded the  following: — Dilution,  gambling  in  the  works,  the  recent 

1  Included  recently. 


APPENDIX  G  407 

I2V2  per  cent,  increase  to  time  workers,  extension  of  this  to  part- 
time  and  part-bonus  workers,  the  provision  of  canteens,  works 
discipline,  jjarticipation  in  local  affairs  such  as  elections,  promotion 
of  workpeople,  &c.  In  regard  to  gambling,  the  Committee  decided 
that  the  practice  should  be  abolished  absolutely;  this  meant  tliat  a 
"raffle"  which  had  been  held  for  the  past  seven  years  was  abolished 
along  with  the  other  forms  of  gambling. 

Dilution  Committee. — This  is  a  sub-committee  of  the  Works 
Committee  chosen  so  as  to  give  representation  to  all  the  departments 
most  vitally  affected  by  dilution.  Its  membership  is  made  up  of — 
3  from  the  Confederation  (1  each  from  the  smelters,  the  millmen 
and  the  stocktakers  and  chemists),  1  from  the  engineers,  1  from  the 
bricklayers  and  1  from  the  general  laborers,  with  a  blastfurnace- 
man  as  president  and  the  secretary  of  the  Works  Committee  as 
secretary.  The  secretary  has  no  vote  and  the  president  a  casting 
vote  only. 

(Q)  Boot  Manufacturers 

The  Company  employs  about  1,000  workpeople,  of  whom  two- 
thirds  are  men  and  boys,  and  one-third  women  and  girls. 

1.  Origin. — The  Works  Committee  was  established  about  fifteen 
months  ago,  on  the  initiative  of  the  management.  The  object  in 
view  was  to  afford  more  convenient  machinery  by  which  the  em- 
ployees could  confer  with  the  management,  and  vice  versa. 

2.  Constitution. — The  Committee  is  an  Employees'  Committee, 
and  consists  of  10  representatives,  based  on  several  departments 
into  which  the  establishment  is  divided.  The  representatives  are 
distributed  as  follows : — 

1.  Clicking  Department   2 

2.  Machine  Room  Department   2 

3.  Rough  Stuff  Department   1 

4.  Making  Department 2 

5.  Finishing  Department   2 

6.  Boxing  Department    1 

The  two  representatives  from  the  machine  room  department  are 
women.  The  representative  from  the  boxing  department  is  a  woman. 
The  other  representatives  are  men. 

The  members  of  the  Committee  are  elected  for  twelve  months. 
They  are  elected  by  the  employees  at  a  meeting  of  the  employees 
convened  by  the  Union  for  the  transaction  of  Union  business. 

The  constitution  of  the  Committee  has  not  been  reduced  to  writing. 

3.  Functions  of  the  Committee. — No  limits  have  been  set  to  the 


408  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

matters  with  which  the  Committee  may  deal.  It  is  competent  for 
the  Committee  to  make  representation  to  the  management  on  any 
question  rolatinj,'  to  the  internal  organization  of  the  estabhshment. 
A  special  function  performed  by  the  Committee  is  the  preliminary 
discussion  of  piecework  rates  with  the  management,  prior  to  such 
rates  being  presented  to  the  Conciliation  Board  for  the  Board's 
sanction.  The  Committee  has  been  found  especially  useful  for  the 
transaction  of  this  business.  In  many  cases  it  has  resulted  in 
agreed  rates  being  submitted  for  the  formal  sanction  of  the  Board. 
This  has  been  particularly  the  case  in  reference  to  fixing  rates  for 
new  machines. 

4.  Procedure. — No  regular  times  are  fixed  for  the  Committee  to 
meet.  Meetings  with  the  management  are  arranged  on  request  by 
either  the  Committee  to  the  management  or  the  management  to  the 
Committee.  The  management  usually  give  one  day's  notice  to  the 
Committee  when  they  desire  a  meeting.  Meetings  are  held  in  the 
firm's  time,  and  any  loss  of  wages  is  made  up.  Meetings  do  not 
usually  last  beyond  an  hour. 

5.  Relations  with  Trade  Urvions. — It  is  the  policy  of  the  Union 
that  all  disputes  or  complaints  shall  be  settled,  as  far  as  possible, 
in  the  shop,  without  reference  to  the  Union  officials. 

The  Union  cordially  approves  of  the  Committee,  and  the  repre- 
sentatives on  the  Committee  are  appointed  at  a  meeting  for  the 
transaction  of  Union  business,  as  already  stated. 

Several  of  the  Shop  Stewards  are  members  of  the  Committee,  but 
are  elected  as  ordinary  representatives,  and  do  not  sit  by  virtue  of 
their  office  as  stewards. 

When  matters  of  importance  are  under  discussion  a  representa- 
tive of  the  Union  attends  the  meetings  of  the  management  and  the 
Committee. 

6.  General. — In  view  of  the  high  degree  of  organization  both 
among  the  employers  and  operatives  in  the  boot  and  shoe  industry, 
and  the  efficient  working  of  the  Conciliation  Board  machinery,  it  is 
considered  essential  for  the  successful  working  of  a  Committee  such 
as  that  above  described  that  great  care  should  be  taken  to  see  that 
the  Committee  does  not  usurp  functions  proper  to  the  Conciliation 
Board.  Special  stress  is  laid  upon  the  useful  work  done  by  the 
Committee  in  arriving  informally  at  agreed  piecework  rates  prior 
to  their  being  submitted  to  the  Conciliation  Board  for  formal  ap- 
proval. 


APPENDIX  G  409 

(R)    Messrs.   Reuben   Gaunt  and   Sons,   Limited,   Spinners   and 
Manufacturers,  Farsley,  Yorkshire 

The  firm  has  adopted  Works  Committees  at  their  Worsted  Spin- 
ning Mill. 

The  firm  are  pioneers  in  the  application  of  Welfare  Schemes  in 
their  industry. 

The  following  details,  which  the  firm  has  kindly  supplied,  refer 
to  the  Spinning  Section  at  Springfield,  where  combing  as  well  as 
spinning  is  carried  on. 

The  number  of  workers  engaged  is  400,  in  the  proportion  of  two- 
thirds  women  and  girls  and  one-third  men  and  boys. 

The  first  Committee  to  be  formed  was  the  Factory  Council. 

This  Council  was  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Directors,  and  is 
composed  of  two  directors  and  the  heads  of  the  respective  depart- 
ments in  the  works.  All  the  nine  members  are  specialists  in  their 
various  spheres.  The  Factory  Council  acts  in  an  advisory  ca- 
pacity in  regard  to  general  questions  of  finance,  ways  and  means, 
and  expenditure,  but  in  regard  to  inter-departmental  questions  it  is 
competent  to  act  both  in  an  advisory  and  in  an  executive  capacity. 

The  function  of  the  Factory  Council  is  to  consider,  unify  and 
consolidate  the  rules  and  principles  of  management. 

The  Factory  Council  makes  use  of  the  collective  experience  of 
its  members  and,  in  consequence,  the  business  is  more  efficiently 
managed. 

Meetings  are  held  weekly,  on  the  same  day  and  at  the  same  hour. 

The  Chairman  is  one  of  the  Managing  Directors,  and  is  re- 
sponsible for  explaining  the  business  policy  to  the  Council;  he  is 
also  the  medium  through  w'hich  the  recommendations  of  the  Council 
reach  the  Board  of  Directors. 

When  Factory  Council  meetings  were  first  inaugurated,  it  was 
not  easy  for  either  directors  or  heads  of  departments  to  table  their 
information  freely,  neither  did  either  party  always  appreciate  a 
frank  review  on  matters  relating  to  their  department,  but  in  course 
of  time  (the  Factory  Council  has  been  established  eight  years)  con- 
fidence and  a  broader  outlook  have  obtained,  and  members  now  pool 
their  experiences  quite  freely.  In  this  way  members  are  kept  in 
touch  with  all  activities  and,  instead  of  having  a  knowledge  limited 
to  their  own  department,  they  gain  an  insight  into  the  whole  con- 
cern. This  reticence  on  the  part  of  both  Directors  and  Representa- 
tives may  be  a  real  stumbling  block — it  should  be  frankly  recog- 
nized as  a  difficulty  and  means  sliould  be  found  by  the  management 
of  overcoming  it.     The  Manager  or  Director,  who  is  used  to  ban- 


410  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

dling  big  propositions  and  acting  indcpfndi-ntly,  may  be  fretted  by 
the  narrower  view  of  the  man  who  can  see  no  farther  than  his  own 
department,  but  restraint  must  be  exercised. 

If  the  Conferences  are  to  be  of  any  use,  those  attending  them 
must  be  able  to  speak  freely  and  be  assured  of  a  sympathetic  hear- 
ing. Experience  proves  that  time  and  patience  will  overcome  this 
difficulty.  The  time,  both  of  the  Manager  and  the  Representative,  is 
well  spent,  they  are  coming  into  closer  contact  with  each  other  than 
heretofore,  and  both  are  gaining  knowledge  which  will  eventually 
lead  to  increased  confidence  and  efficiency. 

The  establishing  of  such  a  committee  as  the  Factory  Council  does 
not  fundamentally  alter  the  general  scheme  and  management  of 
industry.  The  function  of  the  management  is  still  controlled  by 
the  managing  staff,  but  experience  has  proved  that  a  Council  with 
consultative  and  advisory  powers  makes  for  efficiency  and  has  a 
distinct  value  in  the  business  organization. 

The  concept  of  leadership  is  "Support  by  the  Staff  rather  than 
Control  of  the  Staff." 

Conference  of  Works'  Representatives 

General  Remarks. — In  January,  1917,  arrangements  were  made 
to  hold  a  series  of  meetings  with  the  various  departments  for  the 
purpose  of  showing  the  value  of  cooperation  and  of  suggesting  that 
all  matters  relating  to  wages  and  working  conditions  should  in 
future  be  dealt  with  by  Conference. 

At  these  little  meetings  it  was  pointed  out  that  the  old  way  had 
been  for  changes  to  be  made  by  the  management  without  any  active 
cooperation  from  the  workers. 

Changes  were  made  and  had  to  be  accepted,  but  under  the  new 
arrangement  the  cooperation  of  the  workers  would  be  asked  for  in 
the  belief  that  they  would  respond,  and  the  result  would  be  in- 
creased confidence. 

As  a  result  of  these  meetings  it  was  unanimously  decided  to  es- 
tablish Works  Committees. 

The  election  of  representatives  was  left  entirely  in  the  hands  of 
the  workers.  The  importance,  however,  of  electing  representatives 
who  had  their  confidence  was  pointed  out.  It  was  suggested  that 
workers  wiio  had  been  at  the  mill  some  time  and  believed  in  our 
ideals  would  be  valuable,  but  the  greatest  stress  was  laid  upon  con- 
fidence. 

Representatives  must  have  the  confidence  and  loyalty  of  their 
fellow-workers. 


APPENDIX  G  4.11 

Machinery  of  Conference. — Each  department  elects  three  repre- 
sentatives by  ballot.  The  firm  nominates  the  Managing  Director, 
the  Departmental  Manager  and  the  foreman  to  represent  the  Man- 
agement. Whenever  Conferences  are  called  to  adjust  differences, 
two  persons  from  outside  the  Department  are  coopted  to  act  as 
neutral  representatives.  The  duties  of  the  Departmental  Commit- 
tees are  clearly  defined  and  meetings  are  only  called  when  ques- 
tions with  which  they  have  to  deal  are  involved. 

The  coopted  members  are  appointed  for  one  piece  of  business 
only. 

Committee  members  are  elected  for  18  months,  one  retiring  every 
six  months.     The  retiring  member  is  eligible  for  reelection. 

Whilst  the  constitution  has  been  kept  as  simple  as  possible  it  was 
felt  that  the  adoption  of  certain  principles  by  all  the  Works  Com- 
mittees would  secure  uniformity  and  be  a  guide  to  Conference  mem- 
bers, and  with  this  in  view  the  following  rules  were  drawn  up  and 
accepted  in  turn  by  the  different  Committees: — 

1.  There  shall  be  a  list  of  minimum  wages  established  by  Con- 
ference for  all  machine-minders. 

2.  Promotion  and  pay  shall  be  as  nearly  as  possible  in  proportion 
to  merit. 

3.  A  worker  shall  receive  extra  pay  for  extra  work. 

4.  No  important  change  in  methods,  rates,  or  service,  shall  be 
made  by  either  party  without  a  full  explanation  of  its  reason  and 
purpose. 

5.  The  Springfield  Mills  Ideals  were  adopted  as  follows: — 

The  Major  Ideal,  being — 

To  produce  better  yams  than  have  ever  been  produced  in  the 
past  by  any  one. 

The  Minor  Ideals  are — 

To  produce  "Emperor"  yarns  under  healthy  and  happy  con- 
ditions, honestly,  efficiently  and  profitably. 

To  educate  our  workers  and  ourselves  to  become  highly  skilled 
in  order  that  we  may  earn  a  reputation  for  the  highest  grade 
of  work,  and  as  a  result  be  able  to  pay  the  highest  rate  of 
wages. 

To  secure  continuity  of  employment  by  supplying  high-grade 
yarns  and  by  giving  good  service. 

To  treat  customers  with  absolute  fairness  in  order  that  we 
may  gain  and  keep  their  confidence. 

6.  So  far  as  possible  Conferences  shall  be  held  during  ordinary 


412  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

working  liours,  and  attendance  at  such  Conferences  shall  be  paid 
for  at  the  appropriate  rates. 

7.  Applications  for  Conferences  shall  be  made  to  tlie  Board  of 
Directors  by  the  reprcsuntatives  of  tiie  workers  through  the  Fore- 
man and  tlirough  tlie  Manager  of  the  department. 

8.  Differences  shall  be  adjusted  by  a  Committee  of  eight — three 
from  the  workers,  three  from  the  Company  and  two  chosen  by 
these  two  parties,  one  of  the  latter  to  be  appointed  Chairman  of 
the  meeting. 

9.  The  Conference  shall  decide  the  date  from  which  any  altera- 
tion in  pay  shall  become  operative.  It  shall  also  decide  the  mini- 
mum length  of  time  any  agreement  arrived  at  shall  be  binding  upon 
the  parties  thereto,  subject  to  the  proviso  that  whenever  working 
conditions  are  changed  either  the  employees  or  the  Company  shall 
have  the  right  to  obtain  a  revision  of  the  rates  of  pay. 

10.  It  was  resolved  that  the  present  representatives  should  all 
three  serve  for  the  whole  of  the  present  year;  at  the  end  of  the 
present  year  the  one  having  received  the  least  number  of  votes 
should  retire,  but  should  be  eligible  for  reelection;  at  the  end  of 
18  months  the  representative  having  received  the  second  lowest  num- 
ber of  votes  should  retire  and  be  eligible  for  reelection ;  at  the  end 
of  two  years  the  representative  having  received  the  greatest  number 
of  votes  should  retire  but  be  eligible  for  reelection. 

11.  It  is  understood  and  agreed  that  it  is  the  business  of  the 
management,  and  is  not  the  business  of  the  Conference,  to  deal 
with — 

(a)  The  allocation  of  work  to  particular  sets  of  drawing. 
(6)   The  allocation  of  minders  to  particular  machines. 

Our  Works  Committees  have  only  been  in  existence  a  year,  but 
so  far  they  have  worked  quite  satisfactorily.  We  realize  that  time 
will  be  needed  for  representatives,  who  are  unaccustomed  to  busi- 
ness meetings,  to  express  their  opinions  and  to  voice  the  wishes  of 
their  co-workers,  but  we  look  upon  the  scheme  as  an  educational 
venture  and  we  are  prepared  to  wait  patiently  and  overcome  the 
difficulties  that  beset  us. 

Democratic  control  of  industry  can  only  come  when  democracy 
has  knowledge  and  wisdom  to  assume  control.  Kightly  used.  Con- 
ferences will  provide  the  necessary  experience  and  education  for 
greater  responsibility,  which  will  be  equally  beneficial  to  all  con- 
cerned. 

In  conclusion,  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  two  principal 
factors  in  the  organization  of  human  beings  are  The  Spirit  and 
The   Machinery.     In   successful   cooperation   the    Spirit   is   more 


APPENDIX  G  413 

potent  than  the  Machinery.  Mental  Attitude  is  of  Greater 
Consequence  than  Mental  Capacity.  Notwithstanding  this  the 
machinery  is  usually  the  only  factor  which  is  accepted  consciously 
and  considered  in  a  scientific  way.  This  is  unfortunate,  for  the 
thing  that  really  counts  is  atmosphere ;  the  right  spirit  must  prevail 
before  the  machinery  of  organization  can  work  properly.  The  most 
valuable  asset  of  an  employee  is — his  Spirit — that  intaugible  part 
of  his  personality  which  cannot  be  bought  with  so  cheap  a  thing  as 
money.     It  must  be  won. 

The  royal  road  and  the  only  road  to  capture  a  man's  spirit  is  to 
win  his  Confidence  and  nothing  but  integrity  of  purpose  and  sin- 
cerity of  heart  can  do  this.  There  is  no  field  of  action  in  which 
insincerity  is  so  futile  as  in  the  handling  of  workmen.  The  em- 
ployer who  believes  in  the  principle  that 

"Confidence  is  the  Basis  of  All  Permanent  Relationships" 

and  works  accordingly,  is  the  man  who  will  make  his  Works  Com- 
mittees a  helpful  force  in  his  organization. 

Gerald  R.  Gaunt. 
2nd  February,  1918. 

(S)   Fox  Brothers  &  Co.,  Ltd.,  Wellington,  Somerset 
(and   Chipping  Norton) 

The  Wellington  establishment  is  one  of  the  oldest  woolen  and 
worsted  manufacturing  businesses  in  the  country,  going  back  to 
the  17th  century.  For  nearly  150  years  it  has  been  controlled  by 
members  of  the  one  family,  up  to  1896  as  partners  and  since  then 
as  directors.  Several  generations  of  the  families  of  many  of  the 
present  employees  have  worked  in  the  mills.  The  conditions  there- 
fore are  somewhat  exceptional.!  The  present  number  of  employees 
is  about  1,400. 

The  Works  Committee  was  instituted  in  February,  1917,  on  the 
suggestion  of  the  Directors,  as  a  means  to  more  harmonious  work- 
ing of  the  business.  Each  department  elects  its  representatives, 
roughly  in  proportion  to  the  numbers  of  men  and  women  employed; 
no  one  is  eligible  for  membership  of  the  Committee  unless  he  (or 
she)  has  been  at  least  five  years  in  the  employment  of  the  firm; 
the  right  to  vote  is  confined  to  employees  of  18  years  of  age  and 
over.     The  composition  of  the  Committee  is  as  follows : — 

1  A  profit-sharing  scheme  has  been  in  existence  since  1886  Under  it 
some  690  employees  have  £50,000  invested  in  the  company. 


414  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Number  of  Numl^r  of 

Department.  Employees.  Representativea. 

Wool  .Sorters,  etc GO  2 

Worsted  Spinning   212  4 

Woolen  Spinning   145  3 

Weaving 591  10 

Finishing   119  2 

Dyeing    39  2 

Washhouse 131  3 

Mechanics    64  2 

28 

The  Committee  meets  the  Directors  and  the  General  Manager 
once  a  month.  Loss  of  time  is  paid  for.  Any  question  affecting 
the  general  welfare  of  the  workers  or  the  business  can  be  discussed. 
Questions  of  discipline  or  wage  questions  affecting  individuals  or 
departments  must  in  the  first  place  come  before  the  foreman  of 
the  department  concerned  and  then,  if  unsettled,  before  the  Man- 
ager or  Managing  Director;  if  the  question  is  still  not  satisfactorily 
settled  it  can  be  referred  to  the  Committee  and  the  Directors  as  the 
final  court  of  appeal.  The  object  of  this  procedure  is  to  prevent 
the  undermining  of  the  authority  of  the  management  and  waste  of 
time  upon  the  discussion  of  details. 

Much  of  the  discussion  between  the  Committee  and  the  Directors 
has  been  of  an  educational  character.  The  Directors  have  explained 
some  of  the  principles  underlying  the  administration  of  a  large 
business — the  effect  of  output  upon  standing  charges  and  wages, 
and  the  like;  suggestions  for  the  more  economical  running  of  the 
business  are  encouraged.  In  the  firm's  opinion  it  is  essential  to 
the  success  of  a  Works  Committee  that  the  Directors  take  the  work- 
people into  their  confidence;  the  workpeople  must  be  made  to  re- 
alize that  they  can  help  the  administration  and  must  be  asked  and 
given  the  opportunity  to  help. 

The  great  advantage  secured  by  the  existence  of  the  Committee 
is  claimed  to  be  this:  that  by  a  thorough  explanation  to  the  mem- 
bers of  any  new  departure  in  the  internal  administration  of  the 
business  misunderstandings  are  avoided  and  the  workpeople  realize 
tlie  real  object  of  such  departures.  Another  advantage  is  that  the 
Committee  provides  a  safety-valve;  machinery  is  set  up  by  which 
any  grievance  may  reach  the  Directors,  and  this  removes  the  sus- 
picion that  complaints  are  suppressed  by  the  management. 

The  Committee  also  are  encouraged  to  make  suggestions  as  to 
works  amenities  such  as  improvement  in  ventilation.     Questions  of 


APPENDIX  G  415 

holidays  and  war  saviners  schemes  have  been  discussed  and  sub-com- 
mittees have  been  appointed  to  deal  with  such  matters  as  allotments 
and  war  charities. 

The  Committee  express  their  appreciation  of  the  spirit  in  which 
the  Directors  have  met  them.  Both  sides  are  pleased  with  the 
working  of  the  system  in  its  experimental  stage  and  expect  it  to 
develop  its  activities. 

The  great  majority  of  the  workpeople  are  not  members  of  any 
union;  a  small  minority  are  organized  in  a  general  laborers'  union. 
The  difficulties  of  connecting  the  Works  Committee  with  trade 
unionism  as  seen  by  the  management  are  two — the  small  minority  in 
any  union,  and  the  fact  that  the  particular  union  has  nothing  in 
common  with  the  industry;  if  Works  Committees  are  to  be  linked 
up  with  industrial  councils,  which  on  the  workpeople's  side  are 
formed  from  the  trade  unions,  some  way  must  be  found  for  isolated 
establishments  to  be  joined  up  to  the  proper  unions.  Here  it  may 
be  noted  that  at  the  end  of  November  a  Works  Committee  was 
formed,  on  the  same  lines  as  that  at  Wellington,  at  another  woolen 
miU  belonging  to  the  same  firm,  at  Chipping  Norton.  In  this  case 
the  workpeople  are  organized  and  the  official  of  the  union  took  part 
in  the  formation  of  the  Committee.  There  are  some  250  work- 
people in  the  establishment  and  12  members  on  the  Committee. 

In  addition  to  the  Works  Committee  at  the  Wellington  establish- 
ment there  is  also  a  Management  Committee.  The  two  are  kept 
separate  for  the  reason  that  the  workpeople  speak  with  greater 
freedom  in  the  absence  of  their  foremen. 

(T)  RowNTREE  AND  Co.,  Ltd.,  The  Cocoa  Works,  York  Memo- 
randum TO  the  Employees  in  the  Almond 
Paste  Department 

The  Cocoa  Works, 
York, 
1st  September,  1916. 
(Revised  1st  February,  1917.) 

Works'  Councils 

For  some  time  past  the  Directors  have  felt  that  it  might  be  of 
great  service  to  the  Manager  and  Overlookers  of  a  Department,  as 
well  as  to  the  Employees,  if  a  Council  representing  the  Management 
and  the  Workers  were  formed,  in  each  Department,  for  the  full  and 
free  discussion  of  all  matters  affecting  the  work  of  the  Depart- 
ment, such  as: — 


416  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

(u)   The  comfurt   and   well-being  of   the   employees,  so  far  as 
these  depend  upon  wages,  hours  and  conditions  of  work, 
&e.,  and 
(6)   The  general   efliciency   of  the   Department   which   depends 
upon  such  things  as  time-keeping,  discipline,  cleanliness, 
economy  in  the  use  of  materials,  and  upon  method  and 
outi)ut. 
The    Directors    believe    that    through    a    Departmental    Council, 
worked  in  the  right  spirit,  the  employees  would  feel  themselves  to 
liave  a  real  siiare  in  tiie  administration  of  the  Department,  whilst 
their  cooperation  would  be  heartily  welcomed  by  tlie  Management. 
As  showing  what  is  in  the  minds  of  the  Directors,  the  following 
matters  are  set  down  as  amongst  those  which  might,  very  properly, 
be  discussed  at  Departmental  Council  Meetings : — 

(1)  The  criticism  of  any  Piece  Wages  not  thought  to  be  fair 

or  adequate,   and   the   consideration    of  suggestions   for 
adjustment. 

(2)  The  consideration  of  conditions  and  hours  of  work  in  the 

Department. 

(3)  The  consideration  of  departmental  organization  and  pro- 

duction. 

(4)  Rules  and  discipline. 

Owing  to  the  special  difficulties  of  the  time,  with  so  many  regu- 
lar workers  away,  it  is  not  thought  advisable  just  now  to  institute 
these  Departmental  Councils  over  the  Works  generally,  but,  as  an 
experiment,  it  has  been  decided  by  the  Directors,  with  the  full  con- 
currence of  Mr.  G.  T.  Lee,  to  form  a  Council  in  the  Almond  Paste 
Department.  It  is  hoped,  however,  that  although  started  as  an  ex- 
periment, it  may  pi'ove  to  be  of  permanent  value  to  Workers  and 
Management  alike,  and  that  when  its  value  has  been  shown,  and 
the  time  is  opportune,  it  may  be  possible  to  extend  the  scheme  to 
other  Dei^artnients.  If  this  should  come  about,  the  institution  of  a 
General  Works'  Council,  linking  all  Departments,  would  naturally 
follow. 

The  work  both  of  tlie  men  and  women  in  most  of  the  Depart- 
ments of  the  Factory  is  divisible  into  certain  well  defined  Sections. 
In  order  that  each  Section  may  have  the  fullest  opportunity  of  freely 
discussing  with  the  Management  matters  affecting  its  particular 
work,  it  is  thought  that  in  addition  to  a  Departmental  Council,  Sub 
— or  Sectional — Councils  will  be  necessar}'. 

The  constitution  of  such  Sectional  Councils,  as  well  as  of  the 
Departmental  Council,  is  given  below. 


APPENDIX  G  417 


Sectioruil  Councils 


The  number  of  delegates  for  each  Sectional  Council  will  be  fixed 
on  the  basis  of  one  delegate  for  every  twelve  workers  (of  whatever 
age)  or  part  of  twelve  exceeding  six,  employed  in  the  Section. 
Sitting  with  these  at  the  meetings  of  each  Sectional  Council,  and 
having  equal  powers  with  them,  will  be  the  Manager  of  the  De- 
partment with  the  Head  and  Sub-Overlo<jkers,  Monitors  or  Charge- 
men  of  the  particular  Section.  Should  these,  however  (including 
the  Manager),  exceed  in  number  the  workers'  delegates,  the  Mem- 
bers of  the  Council  representing  the  Administration,  will  consist 
of  the  Manager,  the  Head  Overlookers,  together  with  as  many  of 
the  Sub-Overlookers,  Chargemen  and  Monitors  (elected  b^*^  ballot 
amongst  themselves)  as  are  required  to  make  up  a  number  equal 
to  that  of  the  workers'  delegates.  The  Manager  of  the  Depart- 
ment will  be  ex-ofiticio  Chairman  of  the  Sectional  Councils.  He 
will  not  have  a  easting  vote.  In  the  case  of  a  drawn  vote  the  mat- 
ter would  be  submitted  to  me  as  Director  controlling  the  Depart- 
ment. But  a  decision  adverse  to  the  employees'  delegates  will  not 
prevent  the  Trade  Union  concerned  from  raising  the  matter  subse- 
quently with  the  Company.     {See  2nd  par.,  p.  111.) 

In  addition,  there  will  be  one  delegate  appointed  bj'  each  Union 
concerned  (for  the  Men's  Sectional  Councils  from  the  Men's  Union, 
and  for  the  Women's  Sectional  Councils  from  the  Women's  Union), 
who  shall  be  allowed  to  sj^eak,  but  shall  have  no  vote.  Such  dele- 
gates shall  be  deemed  to  hold  a  watching  brief  for  the  Union,  but 
shall  be  in  the  employment  of  the  Firm  and  working  in  the  De- 
partment, and  preferably,  though  not  necessarily,  in  the  Section. 

It  is  intended  that  the  meeting  of  the  Sectional  Councils  shall  be 
held  on  a  fixed  day  once  a  week,  or  once  a  fortnight,  as  may,  in 
practice,  be  found  necessary.  Full  Minutes  of  the  proceedings  will 
be  kept  by  the  Secretary  (who  will  be  Miss  Ruth  Slate  for  the 
Women's  Sections  and  Mr.  T.  W.  Brownless  for  the  Men's).  Mat- 
ters arising  in  the  meetings,  affecting  the  Department  as  a  whole, 
and  not  merely  the  separate  Sections,  will  be  referable  to  the  De- 
partmental Council. 

Departmental  Council 

The  Departmental  Council  will  be  a  distinct  body  from  the  Sec- 
tional Councils  and  will  consist  of  one  member  for  every  50  work- 
ers (or  part  of  50  exceeding  25),  with  an  equal  number  of  the  Ad- 
ministrative Staff,  namely,  Manager,  Head  Overlookers,  Sub-Over- 
lookers, Monitors  and  Chargemen.     Where  these  exceed  the  work- 


418  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

ers,  the  members  representing  the  Administration  will  consist  of 
the  Manager  and  Head  Overlookers,  together  with  as  many  of  the 
Sub-Overlookers,  Cliurgemen,  and  Monitors  (elected  by  ballot 
amongst  themselves),  as  are  required  to  make  up  a  number  equal 
to  that  of  the  workers'  delegates. 

At  the  meetings  of  the  Departmental  Councils  there  will  also  be 
one  delegate  apj)ointed  by  the  Union  representinir  the  Men  and  one 
by  the  Union  representing  the  Women,  who  shall  be  allowed  to 
speak,  but  shall  have  no  votes.  Such  delegates  shall  be  deemed  to 
hold  a  watching  brief  for  the  Union,  but  shall  be  in  the  employment 
of  the  Firm  and  working  in  the  Department. 

Further,  the  Workers  will  be  entitled  to  have  the  attendance  of 
a  Permanent  Oflicial  of  their  Union,  not  necessarily  in  the  employ- 
ment of  the  Firm,  during  the  discussion  of  any  matter  on  which 
they  consider  it  essential  that  they  should  have  skilled  assistance 
and  advice.  An^'  such  Official  attending  a  Departmental  Council 
Meeting  shall  withdraw  as  soon  as  the  matter  is  disposed  of  upon 
which  his  or  her  advice  has  been  required. 

Nothing  that  takes  place  at  a  Sectional  or  Departmental  Council 
shall  prejudice  the  Trade  Union  in  raising  any  question  in  the  or- 
dinary way.  Questions  of  general  principle  such  as  the  working 
week,  wage  standards  and  general  wage  rules,  shall  not  be  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Councils. 

The  meetings  of  the  Departmental  Council  will  be  held  once  a 
month  during  working  hours,  with  myself  as  Chairman  and  Mr. 
Linney  as  Secretary. 

No  decisions  of  the  Councils,  either  Sectional  or  Departmental, 
will  take  effect  until  confirmed  by  myself  or  another  Director. 

Qualifications  for  Voting  for  both  Sectional  and 
Departmental  Councils 
All  male  employees  over  21  years  of  age  and  all  female  em- 
ployees over  10,  who  have  been  emj)loyed  by  the  Firm  for  six 
months  (whether  on  the  Regular  Staff  or  not),  will  be  eligible  to 
vote  for  delegates  to  both  the  Sectional  or  Departmental  Councils, 
and  to  become  Members  of  such  Councils.  Delegates  will  be  elected 
to  serve  for  one  year.  They  will  be  eligible  for  reelection  so  long 
as  they  remain  in  the  employment  of  the  Company.  No  deduction 
will  be  made  from  the  wages  of  Day-workers  for  the  time  occupied 
as  delegates  in  attending  the  Council  Meetings,  and  Pieceworkers 
will  receive  an  average  wage  for  the  time  so  occupied. 


APPENDIX  G 


419 


Application  to  the  Almond  Paste  Department 

Based  upon  the  aforementioned  constitution,  the   Sectional   and 
Departmental  Councils  in  the  Almond  Paste  Department  will  work 
out  as  follows: — 
Sectional. 

There  will  be  6  Sectional  Councils  as  vmder: — 
Women.   (1)   Bottoms  and  Centers. 

(2)  Pipers  and  Coverers. 

(3)  Makers. 

(4)  Packers   and  Labelers. 

Men.         (5)   Slab,  Machine  and  Boiling  (4th  Floor). 

(6)   Crystallizing  and  Piping    (5th  Floor),  Cage  and 
Carting   (3rd  Floor). 
The  number  of  delegates  for  each  of  these  Councils  will  work 
out  thus: — 

( 1 )  Bottoms  and  Centers.  No.  of  Delegates. 

Bottoms — Room   1    2 

Bottoms — Room  2    2 

Centers — Room  1    3 

Centers — Room  2   1 

Total    8 

(2)  Pipers  and  Covers. 

Room  1     11 

Room  2     5 

Total   16 

( 3 )  Makers 6 

(4)  Packers  and  Labelers. 

Packers     9 

Labelers    1 

Total   10 

(5)  Slab,  Machine  and  Boiling   (4th  Floor) 5 

(6)  Crystallizing  and  Piping   (5th  Floor) 6 

Cage  cmd  Carting   ( 3rd  Floor) 1 

Total  7 


4g0  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Method  and  Dales  of  I'^ lections. 

In  order  lo  facilitate  tlie  election  of  delegates,  a  list  of  employees 
eligible  to  vote  and  to  become  delegates  (men  of  21  years  (jf  age 
and  over,  and  girls  of  10  years  and  over,  wlio  have  been  employed 
by  the  Company  for  six  months)  is  now  hung  up  in  each  Section, 
and  these  are  asked  to  nominate  suilicient  delegates  for  their  par- 
ticular Section. 

Nomination  papers  will  be  hung  uj)  in  the  Department  and  em- 
ployees eligible  to  vote  and  wishing  to  nominate  delegates  for  their 
Section,  should  make  out  and  sign  one  of  these  ])ai)ers,  and  place 
it  in  the  locked  box  iixed  in  the  Department  for  this  purpose.  A 
voter  is  at  liberty  to  nominate  as  delegate  any  other  voter  in  his  or 
der  Section,  provided  the  person  nominated  is  willing  to  stand  as  a 
delegate.  The  nomination  papers  will  be  collected  on  Thursday, 
jlVIarch  1st,  at  5.30,  and  the  names  of  those  nominated  will  then 
be  printed  upon  the  voting  papers  which  will  be  given  out  on 
Wednesday,  March  7th.  The  election  of  delegates  will  take  place 
on  Thursday,  March  8th. 

Departmental. 

The  same  method  will  be  followed  in  the  Election  to  the  De- 
partmental Council,  wliieh,  however,  to  avoid  confusion,  will  not 
take  place  until  after  the  completion  of  the  Sectional  Council  Elec- 
tion. Nomination  pa])ers  will  be  issued  on  Wednesday,  March 
14th,  and  collected  March  15th.  The  Election  will  take  place  on 
Thursday,  March  22nd. 

The  number  of  delegates  to  the  Departmental  Council  is  shown 
below : — 

Bottoms  cmd  Centers.  No.  of  Delegates. 

Bottoms — Rooms  1   and  2   1 

Centers — Kooms  1  and  2   1 

Pipers  and  Corcrers. 

Room   1     3 

Room  2     1 

Makers    2 

Packers  and  Lahclers   3 

Slab,  Machine  and  Boiling    (4th  Floor) 1 

Crystallizing    and   Piping    (5th    Floor)    and    Cage 

and  Carting    ( 3rd   Floor )    2 

Total   14 


APPENDIX  G  421 

It  is  intended  to  hold  the  first  Meetings  of  the  Sectional  Councils 
within  fourteen  days  and  the  Departmental  Council  within  one 
month  of  the  Elections. 

T.  H,  Appleton, 

(Director,  R.  &  Co.,  Ltd.). 

(U)  A  Printing  Office 

In  this  office  there  is  only  the  one  Chapel,  composed  at  present 
of  about  a  dozen  compositors.  In  larger  offices  there  are  usually 
several  Chapels.^  The  Chapel  meets  quarterly.  Any  member  may 
call  a  special  meeting  by  "placing  a  shilling  on  the  stone";  such 
member  will  say  to  the  Father  "I  call  Special  Chapel  at  6  o'clock 
to-night."  If  his  complaint  is  found  by  the  Chapel  to  be  a  frivo- 
lous one  the  shilling  is  forfeited.  The  meetings  are  held  in  the 
office  at  closing  time.  In  the  case  of  large  offices  there  may  not  be 
a  room  big  enough  for  a  chapel  meeting,  and  in  such  cases  meetings 
are  held  outside.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  Father  to  interview  the 
head  of  the  firm  when  anything  is  wrong;  to  report  to  the  General 
Committee  of  the  Union  from  the  Chapel  and  to  the  Chapel  from 
the  General  Committee;  to  see  that  subscriptions  are  paid;  to  inter- 
view newcomers  regarding  membership  of  the  Union,  &c. 

Piecework  is  not  now  in  operation  in  this  shop,  so  that  the 
Chapel  is  not  called  upon  in  this  connection  as  it  may  be  in  other 
offices. 

The  employer  is  strongly  inclined  towards  regular  joint  meetings 
between  management  and  representatives  of  the  Chapel.  This  is 
rather  striking  because,  as  is  easy  in  so  small  an  establishment,  he 
is  in  direct  touch  with  each  of  his  men.  The  present  Father  (he 
has  been  in  the  office  for  only  a  few  months)  did  not  seem  to  have 
entertained  the  idea  of  the  need  for  such  meetings  in  this  office; 
he  referred  to  the  good  conditions  and  relations  prevailing  in  the 
office.  He  said,  however,  that  in  bigger  offices  there  was  a  need 
for  such  meetings,  and  he  was  prepared  to  consider  the  applicability 
of  them  to  this  office.     The  employer  has^  in  an  informal  way,  for 

1  For  example,  in  one  office,  there  are  chapels  of  compositors,  stereo- 
typers,  machine  minders,  machine  assistants,  warehousemen  and  certain 
women  employees.  The  compositors  in  this  office  are  divided  among 
several  departments  each  of  which  has  its  local  father  while  the  father 
of  the  compositors'  chapel  is  colloquially  known  as  "imperial"  father. 
The  compositors'  chapel,  as  is  usual,  appoints  also  a  clerk  of  the  chapel. 
The  father  of  the  chapel  among  the  women  employees  is,  appropriately, 
known  as  the  mother  of  the  chapel. 


422  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

a  long  time  lu-ld  meetings  with  the  present  Father's  predecessor 
and  one  or  two  others  of  the  Chapel.  He  would  have  tlierii  to  tea, 
durin.n'  which  they  would  have  a  discussion  on  shop  questions.  As 
examples  of  the  kind  of  things  which  joint  meetings  could  discuss, 
the  employer  mentioned  the  following  points: — 

(1)  The   adjustment  of  work,   when   new   circumstances  arise; 

there  had  been  such  joint  discussions  when  recently  the 
previous  Father,  who  had  been  a  long  time  in  the  firm, 
was  forced  to  Icjave. 

(2)  A  break  for  lunch  in  the  morning;  this  he  means  to  bring 

forward,  as  the  five  hours'  stretch,  though  in  accordance 
with  the  Union  agreements  and  the  general  practice,  is 
too  long. 

(3)  As   an    example    of   how,    even    in    a   small    establishment 

(where  the  relations  ol>viously  are  friendly),  there  may 
be  unnecessary  distance  between  employer  and  work- 
men, he  mentioned  that  some  time  ago  he  gave  facilities 
to  the  men  to  acquire  review  copies  of  books.  This  was 
greatly  appreciated  and  one  man  happened  to  remark 
that  he  had  often  hoped  some  such  arrangement  could 
be  made.  When  challenged  by  the  employer  for  not 
suggesting  the  arrangement,  the  man  could  only  plead 
that  it  was  n't  his  place.  The  incident  was  quoted  as 
probal)ly  typical  of  many  situations  in  which,  for  want 
of  proper  arrangements,  the  atmosphere  common  to  the 
worse  industrial  establishments  clings  even  to  the  very 
best  firms  much  more  closely  than  might  otherwise  be 
the  case. 

(4)  The  employer  further  said  that  he  had  known  of  a  very 

serious   grievance   existing    in    a    large    office    of    which 
the   head   of  the  firm   was  kept  ignorant.     He   had  in- 
formed the  head  of  the  firm  and  the  grievance,  which  had 
been    causing   great   irritation    right    through    the    shop, 
was   instantly   remedied;    it    should    not    have   been   left 
to  an  outsider — obtaining  the  information  only  by  chance 
and,   again,   only   by   chance   knowing   the   head   of   the 
firm  concerned — to  be  the  avenue  of  information. 
In  regard  to  the  last  point    (4),  the  employer  was  emphatic  as 
to  the  necessity  for  the  heads  of  establishments  meeting  the  men's 
representatives.     The  need  was  greater  the  larger  the  ofiice.i 

1  The  same  need  for  regular  meetings  between  the  management  and 
representatives  of  the  employees  was  emphasized  by  the  manager  of  a 
large  printing  establishment.     He  has  from  time  to  time  held  meetings 


APPENDIX  G  423 

(V)  Welfare  Committee  (or  Social  Uniox) 

1.  The  Works  Council  as  it  is  called  (perhaps  it  may  rather 
be  termed  a  Welfare  Committee),  has  for  its  purpose  the  collection, 
direct  from  the  workers,  of  any  suggestions  for  the  improvement 
of  their  surroundings,  and  the  putting  of  such  suggestions,  in  the 
form  of  mature  proposals,  before  the  directors  for  their  approval. 
It  is  not  intended  that  these  suggestions  should  in  any  way  be  con- 
nected with  labor  conditions.  It  is  the  function  of  the  Council  to 
deal  solely  with  suggestions  relating  to  the  amelioration  of  the  sur- 
roundings of  the  men's  work. 

2.  The  Council  is  a  Joint  Council,  and  its  composition  is  as 
follows: — There  are  two  representatives  of  the  management  and 
from  19  to  21  of  the  workmen.  The  two  former  are  the  technical 
director  of  the  works,  who  acts  as  Chairman,  and  a  representative 
manager  ^  nominated  by  the  firm  from  the  sectional  managers.  The 
honorary  secretary  and  the  honorary  treasurer  of  the  Council  may 
be  either  persons  eoopted  by  the  Council,  or  representatives  of  the 
workers  on  the  Council  who  have  been  elected  by  the  Council  to 
these  ofiSces.  The  representatives  of  the  men  are  elected  (by  ballot, 
and  for  a  period  of  3  years)  by  the  different  wards  into  which  the 
works  is  divided  for  electoral  purposes  (19  in  number),  and  all  the 
workers  in  the  establishment  have  a  vote.  Some  of  the  wards 
represent  working  departments  {e.g.,  the  offices,  or  again  the  boiler- 
makers  and  their  laborers) ;  others  are  artificial  creations.  These 
artificial  creations  are  necessary  in  order  that  representation  may 
be  divided  equally  among  all  the  departments,  without  any  neglect 
of  smaU  sections  and  oddments  of  work.  Some  of  the  wards  in 
which  women  are  in  a  majority  are  represented  by  a  woman;  on 
the  whole  Council  there  are  16  men  representatives  and  3  women. 

3.  The  Committee  has  been  in  existence  for  some  15  years.  As 
has  been  said,  its  function  is  to  deal  with  shop  amenities  or  works 
betterment.  This  includes  (a)  conditions  of  work  during  working 
hours,  and  {h)  social  activities  outside  working  hours.  Of  these 
two  the  latter  is  apparently  the  more  considerable,  and  thus — if  one 
distinguishes  between  Works  Committee,  Welfare  Committee  and 
Social  Union — the  Works  Council  really  belongs  to  the  third  cate- 

with  the  foremen  and  the  fathers  of  the  different  chapels  in  the  office  to 
discuss  questions  of  common  interest:  lately,  the  question  of  the  appli- 
cation of  the  Whitley  Report  and,  at  other  times,  shop  regulations, 
sanitation,  etc. 

1  The  representative  manager  is  said  to  act  as  a  very  useful  link  be- 
tween the  firm  and  the  workmen,  particularly  when  he  is  a  young  man 
interested  in  the  social  side  of  the  works. 


424  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

f,'ory  rather  tlian  tin;  scmmjikI.  Tlie  Council,  under  this  head,  main- 
tains a  recreation  ground,  for  the  purchase  and  efiuipment  of  which 
money  was  advanced  hy  the  lirui.  The  weelily  subscriptions  paid 
by  the  men  form  at  once  a  sinking  fund  to  extinj^uish  this  loan, 
and  a  working  fund  to  meet  current  expenses.  The  origin  of  the 
Works  Council,  some  15  years  ago,  was  connected  with  these  facts. 
A  number  of  requests  had  come  from  the  men  to  the  management, 
asking  for  assistance  in  the  promotion  of  sports,  and  the  advance 
made  by  the  lirm,  and  the  institution  of  the  Works  Council,  both 
sprang  from  these  requests. 

4.  The  Works  Council  thus  deals  in  large  measure  with  ques- 
tions that  lie  outside  the  works.  Inside  the  works  its  scope  is  less 
considerable.  The  canteen,  for  instance,  is  under  the  control  of  the 
firm,  which  provides  meals  at  less  than  cost  price;  the  Works  Coun- 
cil only  deals  with  tiie  amenities  of  the  canteen.  The  main  concern 
of  the  Works  Council  within  the  works  is  with  matters  such  as  ven- 
tilation, sanitation,  and  the  general  comfort  of  the  workers.  About 
half-a-dozen  times,  but  not  more,  questions  have  been  brought  up 
at  the  Works  Council  which  have  had  to  be  ruled  out.  Generally, 
the  men's  representatives  draw  a  careful  distinction  between  matter 
belonging  to  the  Works  Council  and  matters  belonging  to  the  sphere 
of  Trade  Unionism.  There  has  been  no  difficulty  with  Trade  Unions; 
on  the  contrary,  the  good  feeling  engendered  by  the  Works  Coun- 
cil has  led  to  easy  relations  between  the  firm  and  Trade  Unions. 
The  firm,  it  should  be  said,  recognizes  Trade  Unions,  and  deals  with 
them  regularly. 

5.  It  may  be  added  that  while  the  Works  Council  has  nothing  to 
do  with  suggestions  for  improvements  in  the  works,  there  is  a  de- 
partmental arrangement  under  which  employees  can  make  sugges- 
tions. In  each  department  there  is  a  suggestion  box,  into  which 
any  workman  can  drop  a  memorandum  of  his  suggestion;  the 
memoranda  of  suggestions  are  regularly  collected,  and  awards  of 
prizes  are  made  for  good  suggestions. 

6.  In  the  matter  of  meetings  and  procedure,  the  Works  Council 
meets  once  a  month,  sometimes  in  the  employer's  time  (in  which 
case  the  men  are  paid  during  the  time  of  their  attendance)  but 
generally  in  the  evening,  when  work  is  over  for  the  day.  There  is 
a  regular  agenda,  prepared  by  the  secretary,  containing  matters 
brought  up  on  the  reports  of  sub-committees  or  raised  by  individual 
representatives. 


APPENDIX  G  425 

(W)  A  Miner's  Statement  on  Output  Committees 

The  following  statements  form  part  of  the  answer  by  a  miner 
working  in  the  area  of  the  Midland  Federation  to  the  Questionnaire 
printed  in  Appendix  I.  The  references  are  to  the  Output  (or 
Absentee)  Committees  in  his  district.  The  functions  of  these  Com- 
mittees, as  in  other  districts,  are  concerned  with  two  matters — cases 
of  absence  from  work  and  facilities  for  increasing  output  (im- 
provements, negligence  on  the  part  of  officials,  &c.)  : — 

1.  Origin. —  (&)  The  Joint  Committee  ^  found  out  that  output 
was  not  only  affected  by  absenteeism,  but  by  faulty  management, 
and  they  began  to  frame  rules  which  would  embrace  the  faults  of 
the  management,  as  well  as  the  workers'  negligence  in  absenteeism, 
and  would  call  the  Committees,  instead  of  Absentee  Committees, 
Output  Committees,  which  gives  wider  facilities  and  administration 
in  working. 

(c)  The  meeting  of  representatives  of  employers  and  employed 
soon  became  lively  and  it  showed  the  intense  interest  that  was  taken 
in  the  Government  suggestions,  and  the  men  soon  pointed  out  to 
the  Coal  Owners  that  there  were  other  causes  which  caused  a  re- 
duced output  of  coal  besides  absenteeism — the  faults  of  the  man- 
agement in  allowing  the  miners  to  wait  for  timber,  no  facilities  in 
taking  men  to  their  work  and  bringing  them  back,  the  waiting  for 
tubs  through  scarcity  and  uneven  distribution  of  the  same.  If 
they  were  going  to  work  this  scheme  and  draw  up  rules,  they  must 
bring  the  management  in  as  well  as  the  men. 

The  Coal  Owners,  after  consultation,  decided  to  accede  to  the 
request  of  the  men  and  asked  them  to  withdraw  from  this  meeting, 
take  it  back  to  their  delegate  board  and  appoint  a  small  committee 
to  draw  up  rules  which  would  give  them  a  voice  in  the  management 
of  the  collieries  concerned. 

2.  Constitution. —  (d)  The  worker's  side  constitutes  a  separate 
Committee  only  so  far.  Just  to  illustrate  what  I  mean;  if  there  is 
a  serious  case  which  has  to  be  brought  to  the  Joint  Committee  the 
worker's  side  will  meet  together  separately  before  going  to  meet  the 
management's  side,  so  that  they  can  as  far  as  they  are  concerned  get 
agreement. 

(e)  They  are  duly  elected,  not  for  12  months  but  for  any  time. 
This  seems  to  me  a  great  mistake.  They  ought  to  be  elected  every 
12  months,  as  some  of  them  have  lost  the  confidence  of  the  men, 
and  it  causes  discontent  and  friction ;  annual  elections  would  make 
for  confidence  and  efficiency.     The  classes  represented  by  these  Com- 

1  Sectional  joint  committees  of  the  miners. 


4«26  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

mittees  are  minors,  datal,  haulage,  surface  workers,  who  are  manipu- 
lators of  coal.  I  might  say  it  would  have  heon  better  when  the 
rules  were  drawn  uj)  if  it  had  been  stated  that  all  classes  must  be 
represented.  You  have  on  most  of  the  Committees  datal,  haulage, 
and  surface  workers  without  representation.  These  Committees  are 
only  set  up  as  far  as  the  Miners'  Federation  of  Great  Britain  are 
concerned.  Shop  men,  shunters,  laborers,  and  locomen  are  outside, 
as  the  idea  amongst  the  Coal  Owners  is  that  these  classes  of  workers 
do  not  affect  the  output  of  coal. 

(/)  (i)  The  trade  unions  have  all  the  representation  as  far  as 
the  workers  are  concerned.  Of  course,  it  is  possible  for  the  men 
at  the  colliery  to  appoint  a  non-unionist,  but  he  would  be  a  rare 
species. 

(ii)  No,  it  has  none;  it  can  suggest,  but  not  appoint;  this  is  left 
entirely  to  the  men.  In  one  colliery  they  refused  to  set  up  a  Pit 
Committee  though  the  Miners'  Union  wanted  to  set  one  up  and  the 
leaders  held  meetings;  but  they  failed  to  persuade  the  men.  The 
Coal  Controller  was  pressing  the  Directors,  and  the  Directors  the 
management,  but  they  could  not  persuade  the  men ;  the  men  were 
afraid  of  victimization  and  I  think  they  had  a  good  case.  Where 
men  stood  by  their  comrades,  they  were  soon  out  of  work  not  know- 
ing what  for,  only  the  management  saying  "inefficient." 

(iii)  The  trade  union  official  can  pay  a  visit  to  any  of  the  Com- 
mittees when  sitting  and  listen  to  all  the  business  and  see  whether 
it  is  being  conducted  in  the  interests  of  the  men,  or  to  see  fair  play 
all  round,  or  to  see  that  the  management  are  not  abusing  the  powers 
set  by  rule. 

(iv)  The  relationship  is  good  in  many  of  them,  but  there  are 
doubts  in  the  men;  if  some  of  the  stewards  are  put  in  contracting 
places  and  coal  is  pretty  easy  to  get,  the  representatives  are  open 
to  attack  by  the  men  as  they  say  "you  would  not  have  such  a  soft 
job  only  you  have  been  acting  in  the  master's  interests";  and  some 
of  them  play  more  than  the  usual  time  allowed,  and  nothing  is 
said.  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  if  a  strong  man  is  on  the  Committee 
and  he  goes  in  for  pulling  the  management  up  the  harmony  is  broken 
a  good  deal;  you  can  fine  the  men  and  forgive  them,  but  when  you 
come  to  the  management  it  is  another  thing. 

(g)  They  are  chosen  by  the  Managing  Director;  he  asks  the 
Underground  Manager,  and  the  under-lookers,  or  deputies,  as  they 
call  them  who  are  responsible  for  different  coal  seams.  By  this 
method  you  get  an  all  round  representation  as  far  as  the  under- 
ground workers  are  concerned,  but  datal  and  surface  management 
is  left  out. 


APPENDIX  G  427 

(j)  I  will  be  most  frank  in  -what  I  have  got  to  say  in  this  im- 
portant question.  The  employing  side  want  no  change,  as  it  only 
applies  to  absenteeism  as  far  as  they  are  concerned.  The  rules  give 
the  men  a  voice  in  the  management,  but  I  am  sorry  to  say  there  is 
no  Committee  strung  enough  to  administer  the  rules  as  it  relates  to 
management :  they  go  so  far  but  stop  as  they  see  an  invisible  pres- 
sure being  brought  upon  them  which  is  going  to  affect  the  security 
of  their  living,  a  kind  of  victimization  which  you  cannot  prove. 
Your  contracting  place  is  finished  and  you  want  another  place  but 
the  management  sends  you  "odding" — you  are  middle-aged  and 
you  cannot  keep  pace  with  the  younger  element ;  and  you  look  after 
a  fresh  place,  but  every  where  is  full  up;  and  when  you  come  out 
of  the  office  you  can  see  other  men  set  on.  This  is  what  is  going 
on  all  round  the  district,  and  you  want  to  strengthen  these  men 
by  having  the  rules  enacted  by  Act  of  Parliament  to  make  them 
binding;  and  if  cases  like  this  happen,  there  wants  to  be  a  Tri- 
bunal appointed  by  Government,  representative  of  all  classes  so  that 
a  man  shall  have  a  fair  hearing  and  equality  of  justice;  this  will 
give   him   a    security   and   it   will   reduce   this   insecurity   of   work. 

3.  Functions. —  (o)  iv.  The  suggestion  of  improvements  is  within 
the  scope  of  Conuuittee  and  some  good  work  has  been  doae,  which 
has  affected  the  output  of  coal  and  increased  the  wages  of  the  men. 

V.  None  of  these  points  are  dealt  with  by  our  Committee  or  only 
indirectly;  it  would  be  a  splendid  thing  if  these  points  were  dealt 
with.  There  is  more  friction  caused  under  these  heads  between  the 
management  and  the  men  than  under  any  other  points. 

Timekeeping. — The  management  promises  the  men  they  will  put 
so  many  turns  to  their  credit  for  doing  certain  dead  work  in  the 
mine,  and  when  the  time  arrives  for  them  to  receive  the  wage  at  the 
week  end,  the  money  has  not  been  put  in  to  their  credit ;  so  the 
men  often  have  to  go  to  the  office  to  make  complaints,  with  a  prom- 
ise from  the  management  it  will  be  in  for  next  week.  If  this 
was  brought  before  a  committee  of  this  standing,  a  more  harmonious 
spirit  would  be  brought  to  bear  on  the  industry. 

Language. — The  language  by  some  of  the  management  to  the 
workers  is  disgraceful  and  is  not  fit  for  any  child  in  the  pit  to  hear. 
This  point  can  come  before  the  Committee  but  I  have  not  known 
of  any  case  yet,  though  reports  have  been  made  to  the  leaders  of  the 
men  and  they  have  taken  up  the  cases.  In  one  case  I  know  the 
men  refused  to  go  to  work  until  the  management  were  removed, 
but  wise  counsels  prevailed  and  the  bitterness  was  removed. 

Methods  of  Foremen. — The  mining  industry  requires  great  changes 
as  the  methods  of  the  foremen  are  at  fault  in  not  paying  for  dead 


428  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

work,  such  as  emptying  dirt  or  packing  it;  they  should  pay  for  so 
many  tubs,  but  if  1  or  2  tubs  are  over  the  stated  number  that  they 
pay  for,  they  reckon  them  nothing;  in  measuring  ripping,  instead 
of  going  to  the  widest  part  of  the  level  they  go  to  tlie  narrowest, 
which  may  mean  to  the  man  a  difference  of  5.s-.  on  tliat  piece  of 
work;  in  not  seeing  to  a  good  distribution  of  wagons  going  in  and 
about  the  mine,  &c.  There  is  a  splendid  scope  for  a  Committee, 
but  ours  have  only  limited  powers  as  far  as  the  methods  of  the 
foremen  are  concerned. 

vii.  Canteen. — This  question  does  not  come  within  scope  of  our 
Committee,  but  one  large  colliery  has  a  canteen,  and  suggestions 
have  been  made  from  the  Committee  there  in  the  management  of  the 
canteen.  It  would  be  a  good  thing  for  a  collier}^  to  have  a  canteen, 
as  many  men  are  called  upon  to  work  overtime  and  cannot  get 
food,  and  they  work  on  many  hours  without,  which  only  means  in- 
efficiency. In  the  colliery  which  has  a  canteen,  the  men  can  get  a 
good  meal  and  hot  drinks  at  cost  price.  I  know  when  winter  time 
comes  on  and  the  output  of  coal  depends  on  the  surface  workers 
sticking  to  their  work,  the  management  have  rest  periods  for  in- 
dividuals and  the  management  gives  them  hot  drinks  to  keep  them 
at  it.  But  at  collieries  where  there  are  no  canteens  they  have  to 
knock  off  on  account  of  the  weather. 

Sanitation. — Not  within  the  scope  of  our  Committee,  but  condi- 
tions are  awfully  bad. 

Works  Amenities. — Manners:  There  are  hardly  any  about  the 
collieries;  the  management  have  an  idea  that  nothing  can  be  done 
without  swearing  and  shouting,  and  it  is  a  disgrace  to  hear  it. 
Some  managers  are  extremely  nice,  but  they  are  very  rare. 

4.  Procedure. —  (a)  ii.  The  Committee  meets  once  a  week  where 
a  large  colliery  is  concerned  (say  1,000  to  2,000  employees),  but 
where  there  are  less  employees,  the}'  are  specially  summoned  by  no- 
tice from  the  Secretary  of  the  Committee. 

iii.  Yes,  the  worker  members  meet  separately,  but  only  when 
the  questions  are  vital  and  contentious. 

V.  They  take  place  in  the  workers'  time  and  the  emploj^ers'  time. 
The  meeting  is  called  for  1  o'clock.  The  management  allow  the 
worker  members  to  come  out  of  the  pit  before  the  time  but  at  their 
own  (the  workers')  expense,  and  the  Committee  sits  till  it  comes  into 
the  workers'  time  after  2  o'clock. 

vi.  It  generally  lasts  2  or  3  hours.  It  all  depends  on  how  many 
defendants  and  who  are  the  defendants. 

vii.  The  worker  members  are  paid  out  of  the  Trade  Union  funds 
at  the  rate  of  2s,  6d.  per  meeting.     This  causes  friction  as  it  is  cost- 


APPENDIX  G  429 

ing  the  Union  a  great  amount  of  money  and  they  feel  that  the  Gov- 
ernment ought  to  pay  or  part  pay  for  this  work,  as  it  is  being  car- 
ried on  in  the  national  interests  to  secure  a  greater  output  of  coal. 
Some  suggest  that  the  management  ought  to  pay  half. 

5.  Relations  with  Trade  Unions. —  (b)  They  only  recognize  the 
Miners'  Union  as  far  as  the  jurisdiction  of  this  committee  is  con- 
cerned. They  (the  owners)  did  try  to  bring  offenders  in  from  other 
unions,  but  the  miners  would  have  nothing  to  do  Vith  them.i 

6.  General. —  (a)  The  attitude  of  the  management  to  Committees 
is  fairly  good;  just  according  to  what  the  business  is.  If  it  applies 
to  men  they  are  good,  but  when  it  applies  to  the  management  the 
feeling  changes  a  little;  but  on  the  whole  it  is  good.  I  don't  know 
of  any  decisions  they  have  not  carried  out,  but  it  takes  them  a  long 
time  to  do  it;  when  they  promise,  your  tenacity  has  to  be  great. 

(e)  As  far  as  colliery  workers  are  concerned  separate  Commit- 
tees are  not  needed  as  they  would  deal  with  all  questions  that  could 
arise;  what  would  be  essential  would  be  to  see  that  all  grades  are 
represented  on  the  committee. 


APPENDIX  III 


Summary  of  a  District  Investigation  in  the  Engineering 
AND  Shipbuilding  Industries 

Of  32  firms  in  the  engineering  and  shipbuilding  industries  in  one 
district  in  which  another  enquiry  was  made  as  to  the  existence  of 
Works  Committees,  eight  were  found  to  have  Works  Committees. 
In  addition,  one  had  a  Dilution  Committee,  one  a  Welfare  Com- 
mittee, one  a  Women's  Committee  and  in  one  there  was  a  Shop  Com- 
mittee. In  one  other  there  was  a  Works  Committee  until  recently. 
Expressions  of  opinion  as  to  the  value  of  Works  Committees  were 
obtained  from  18  of  the  32  employers.  Ten  expressed  themselves 
in  favor  and  eight  as  opposed  to  Works  Committees.  Of  the  ten 
in  favor,  seven  now  have  a  Works  Committee;  of  the  eight  op- 
posed, one  has  a  Dilution  Committee  and  one  a  Gunshop  Committee, 
while  six  have  no  form  of  Committee. 

The  following  are  notes  of  opinions  of  these  employers: — 
Favorable : — 

(1)   "Useful  work  is  the  outcome." 

1  In  this  respect  the  practice  differs  from  that  of  the  timekeeping 
committees  at  the  Cleveland  and  Durham  blastfurnaces. 


430  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

(2)  "Commiltce  should   be   encounigod  .  .  .  much   dependtid 

on  class  of  men  chosen  from  both  sides." 

(3)  "Applied  to  larpje  establislunenls  very  commendable." 

(4)  "If  established  generally  would  do  an  infinite  amount  of 

good." 

(5)  "Nothing  but  good  would  accrue  if  such  Committees  were 

general." 

(6)  "In  entire  sympathy." 

(7)  "Experience  is  a  very  happy  one  and  not  by  any  means 

one-sided  as  the  members  of  the  Committee  do  every- 
thing possible  to  render  assistance  to  the  firm." 

(8)  "Very     harmonious     relations     although  .  .  .  grievances 

much  too  one-sided." 

(9)  "Perfectly  satisfied." 

Unfavorable : — 

(1)  "Encourages  men  to  leave  work  to  engage  in  business 

which  management  should  attend  to." 

(2)  "Power  is  taken  from  management  and  exercised  by  the 

men." 

(3)  "Simply  looking  for  trouble." 

(4)  "Advantage  would  be  taken  to  look  for  trouble." 

(5)  "Any  amount  of  friction  would  ensue." 

(6)  "Afraid  grievances  would  only  come  from  one  side  and 

little  endeavor  would  be  made  to  assist  the  manage- 
ment in  conduct  of  works." 

(7)  "Dealing  with  accredited  shop   stewards  entirely  satis- 

factory." 

Of  the  opinions  coming  under  "Favorable"  all  except  (3)  and 
(4)  are  from  establishments  which  have  Works  Committees;  of 
those  coming  under  "Unfavorable"  (1)  is  from  an  establishment  in 
which  one  shop  has  a  Committee,  (2)  to  (7)  from  establishments 
without  Committees. 

The  opinions  of  sixteen  active  trade  unionists  employed  in  the 
same  industries  in  this  district  also  show  differences.  Of  the  six- 
teen seven  are  employed  in  establishments  which  have,  or  in  one 
have  had,  a  Works  Committee,  and  nine  in  establishments  which 
have  no  experience  of  a  Works  Committee.  Of  the  seven,  five  are 
favorable  and  two  unfavorable;  of  the  nine,  four  favorable  and  five 
opposed. 

This  investigation  would  appear  to  support  the  results  aiTived  at 
in  the  report  that  the  majority  both  of  employers  and  of  workpeople 
with  experience  are  persuaded  of  the  benefits  of  Works  Committees. 


APPENDIX  G  431 

APPENDIX  IV 

Joint  Timekeepikg  Committees 

(A.)    (i)  Joint    Committees    at    Collieries    in    Northumberland — 
Rules, 
(ii)   Note  on  Committees  at  Collieries  in  other  districts. 
(B.)    (i)  Joint  Committees  at  Ironworks  in  Cleveland  and  Durham 
— Agreement, 
(ii)   Note  on  Working  of  these  Committees. 

(A.)    (i)   Joint  Committees  at  CoiiLieries  in  Northumberland 

— Rules 

Northumberland  Coal  Owners'  Association 

and 

Northumberland  Miners'  Mutual  Confident  Association 

Rules  respecting  the  Formation  and  Procedure  of  Joint  Committees 
for  the  purpose  of  securing  greater  Regularity  of  Work  at  the 
Collieries. 

In  order  to  increase  the  output  of  coal  the  following  rules  are 
adopted  by  the  above-named  Associations: — 

1.  Where  workmen  are  unable  to  work  in  their  own  working 
places  such  persons  shall  work  in  other  places  where  there  are  va- 
cancies in  accordance  with  the  custom  of  the  colliery.  If  no  such 
places  are  available  and  tlie  man  in  consequence  has  to  go  home,  he 
shall  not  be  returned  to  the  Authorities  as  an  Absentee  on  that 
day. 

2.  Men  prevented  from  getting  to  their  work  at  the  proper  time, 
due  to  the  workmen's  train  or  car  being  late,  shall  on  its  arrival ' 
be  allowed  to  go  to  work. 

3.  All  deputations  shall  be  held  at  such  hours,  whenever  possible, 
as  will  cause  no  loss  of  time  to  the  members  of  such  deputations  or 
the  men  who  appear  with  them. 

4.  All  persons  shall  attend  every  day  on  which  the  pit  is  working 
unless  prevented  by  illness  or  other  reasonable  cause. 

5.  That  a  District  Committee  be  set  up  consisting  of  an  equal 
number  of  coal  owners'  and  workmen's  representatives. 

If  all  members  are  not  present,  only  an  equal  number  shall  vote 
on  each  side. 

6.  That  the  District  Committee  shall  meet  as  agreed  upon  for 
the  purpose  of  dealing  with  disputes  which  have  arisen  under  any 


432  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

of  the  Local  Committees  and  any  other  business,  except  in  the  event 
of  urgent  business,  in  wliich  case  a  meeting  may  be  called  on  the 
representation  of  either  side  to  specially  deal  with  the  matter. 

7.  That  a  Local  Committee  shall  be  established  at  each  colliery, 
consisting  of  an  equal  number  (not  exceeding  three  each)  of  coal 
owners'  and  workmen's  representatives  to  carry  out  these  rules.  If 
all  members  were  not  present,  only  an  equal  number  shall  vote  on 
each  side. 

8.  The  Local  Committee  shall  meet  at  least  once  a  fortnight,  and 
the  management  shall  supply  a  "Time  Lost  Sheet,"  showing  the 
names  of  the  men  against  whom  there  is  a  complaint,  and  the  Local 
Committee  shall  decide  upon  whom  they  shall  summon  to  the  next 
meeting. 

9.  The  men  who  are  called  upon  to  appear  before  the  Committee 
shall  have  at  least  two  days'  notice  given  to  appear.  Failing  to 
attend  they  will  be  dealt  with  in  their  absence,  and  the  method  of 
giving  notice  to  attend  shall  be  left  to  the  Committee  at  each  col- 
liery. 

Meetings  are  to  take  place  so  that  men  may  attend  without  losing 
time. 

10.  The  Local  Committee  shall  be  empowered  to  impose  fines,  and 
the  persons  so  fined  shall  have  the  option  of  signing  a  book  for 
such  fines  to  be  deducted  or  to  be  dealt  with  by  the  management. 

(a)  If  the  first  method  is  selected  by  the  workman  and  he  at- 
tends and  works  full  time,  as  defined  by  Rule  4,  for  one 
month  after  the  fine  is  inflicted,  the  fine  to  be  returned 
to  him. 

(6)  All  fines  not  so  redeemed  to  be  paid  over  to  some  charitable 
institution  to  be  selected  by  the  Local  Committee. 

(c)  The  amount  of  fines  shall  be: — 

For  a  first  offense  for  which  a  fine  is  inflicted,  2s.  6d. 
per  day  of  avoidable  absence;  a  second  offense,  5s. 
per  day.  In  the  event  of  a  third  offense  the  ease  to  be 
dealt  with  at  the  discretion  of  the  management. 

11.  The  Local  Committee  shall  report  to  the  District  Committee 
all  cases  in  which  they  fail  to  agree. 

12.  Excuses  for  absence  must  be  bona  fide,  and  where  an  ab- 
sentee claims  he  was  away  owing  to  illness,  a  doctor's  note  must  be 
produced  if  demanded. 

13.  Any  ofiicial  responsible  for  the  workmen  losing  work  or  fail- 
ing to  do  his  best  to  get  work  for  them  shall  be  reported  to  the 
Local  Committee,  who  shall  investigate  the  circumstances,  and  if 


APPENDIX  G  433 

the  charge  appears  to  he  justified  the  ease  shall  be  reported  to  the 
Central  Committee  to  deal  with. 

14.  These  rules  to  continue  for  the  duration  of  the  war. 


Reginald  Guthrie,  /    s,,retaries. 
William  Straker,  ) 


12th  February,  1917. 


(A.)   (ii)  Note  on  Committees  at  Collieries  in  other  Districts 

Committees  formed  on  very  similar  lines  have  been  set  up  in 
other,  but  not  in  ail,  mining  districts.  The  statements  as  to  func- 
tions and  procedure  may  differ  in  certain  particulars.  (1)  Pro- 
vision is  sometimes  made  for  the  attendance  of  officials  in  the  miners' 
and  owners'  associations  at  Pit  Committee  meetings.  (2)  The  scope 
of  a  Pit  Committee's  functions  is  sometimes  stated  so  as  to  include 
more  than  appears  to  be  covered  by  Rule  13  above,  which  deals 
with  officials  "responsible  for  the  workmen  losing  work,  or  failing 
to  do  his  best  to  get  work  for  them."  The  functions  may  include 
the  consideration  of  facilities  for  output  and  the  suggestion  of  im- 
provements, apart  from  cases  arising  under  the  circumstances  re- 
ferred to  in  Rule  13  above.  This  is  commented  upon  in  the  report 
printed  in  Appendix  II  (W).  (3)  The  rules  vary  also  in  such 
details  as  number  of  representatives,  time  of  meetings  and  amount 
of  fines. 

The  results  achieved  differ  greatly  from  district  to  district.  In 
some  districts  no  Committees  have  been  set  up,  while  in  some  others, 
after  being  set  up,  the  Committees  have  either  failed  to  work  at  all 
or,  after  a  period  of  successful  operation,  have  weakened  and  been 
abandoned.  In  other  districts,  however,  the  Committees  have  con- 
tinued to  work  satisfactorily,  improving  timekeeping  and  organiza- 
tion and  increasing  output.  The  application  of  short  time  has  in 
certain  districts  made  the  need  for  the  Committees  less  urgent  and 
an  estimate  of  their  value  difficult.  Among  the  reasons  given  for 
failure  to  institute  the  Committees  are  (1)  failure  of  employers  to 
take  the  matter  up,  and  (2)  the  younger  men's  dislike  for  the 
scheme;  and  for  failure  to  work  satisfactorily  (1)  the  failure  of 
employers  to  carry  out  agreements  about  Sunday  work,  etc.,  and 
(2)  simple  inability  of  the  two  sides  to  agree. 


434  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 


(B.)    (i)   Joint  Committees  at  Ironworks  in    CiiEVELAND  and 

Durham 

Agreement  setting  up  Works  Committees  to  deal  with  Cases 
of  Time-Losers 

This  scheme  has  been  suggested  by  the  Ministry  of  Munitions  and 
accepted  by  the  Cleveland  Ironmasters'  Association  and  the 
Cleveland  Blast furnacemen's  Association,  in  order  to  avoid  the 
necessity  of  taking  men  before  the  Munitions'  Tribunak.  The 
Agreement  will  come  into  operation  on  Sunday  the  12th  day 
of    August,    1917,    at Ironworks. 

1.  At  each  works  in  the  Ironmasters'  Association  there  shall  be 
set  up  a  Committee  consisting  in  the  first  instance  of  three  work- 
men employed  at  the  works. 

2.  The  ai^pointment  of  the  three  workmen  (one  of  whom  must 
be  the  delegate)  shall  rest  with  the  Cleveland  and  Durham  Blast- 
fumacemen's  and  Cokemen's  Association. 

3.  The  Cleveland  Ironmasters'  Association,  or  any  individual 
member  thereof,  may,  at  any  future  time,  and  at  the  request  of  the 
Cleveland  Blastfurnacemen's  Association  must,  also  appoint  to  the 
Committee  three  employer  representatives  for  each  works  or  for 
such  of  the  works  as  are  affected,  and  such  representatives  shall 
have  equal  powers  and  duties  with  the  workmen's  representatives. 

4.  So  long  as  the  Committee  consists  of  three  representatives,  two 
shall  form  a  quorum;  if  the  Committee  consists  of  six  representatives, 
four  shall  form  a  quorum. 

5.  There  shall  also  be  created  a  Central  Committee  consisting  of 
six  persons,  three  of  whom  shall  be  appointed  by  the  Cleveland  Iron- 
masters' Association,  and  three  by  the  Cleveland  Blastfurnacemen's 
Association :  four  to  form  a  quorum. 

6.  The  duties  and  the  powers  of  the  Works  Committee  shall  be: — 

(a)  To  inquire  fully  into  every  ease  brought  by  the  Manager 

of  the  Works  of  alleged  bad  timekeeping  on  the  part 
of  any  workman  employed  at  the  works  under  his 
charge. 

(b)  To  give  warning  and  advice  to  any  workman  who  may 

appear  to  need  it. 

(c)  To  inflict,  subject  to  the  provisions  of  the  Truck  Acts,  such 

penalty  or  fine  as  in  the  judgment  of  the  Committee  the 
ease  shall  merit,  such  fine  not  to  exceed  20s.  in  any  one 
instance. 


APPENDIX  G  4j36 

(d)  In  the  ease  of  repeated  offenses,  to  transmit  the  facts  and 

evidence  to  the  judgment  of  the  Central  Committee. 

(e)  In  the  event  of  the  Works  Committee  being  equally  divided 

in  their  judgment  on  any  case,  the  same  shall  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  Central  Committee  for  decision. 
(/)  Each  Works  Committee  shall  have  power  to  reduce  or  re- 
mit altogether  any  fine  imposed  by  the  Committee,  if 
the  offender's  conduct  during  the  four  weeks  succeeding 
the  liearing  of  his  case  justifies  any  variation  in  the 
original  penalty. 

7.  The  duties  and  the  powers  of  the  Central  Committee  shall  be : — 
(o)   To  review  all  the  facts  and  evidence  in  connection  with  any 

case  which  may  be  submitted  to  it  by  Works  Com- 
mittees, and,  if  it  so  decides,  to  impose  upon  the  offender, 
subject  to  the  provisions  of  the  Truck  Acts,  a  fine  not 
exceeding  40s.,  or  to  submit  the  case  to  the  judgment  of 
the  Ministry  of  Munitions. 
(b)  To  make  regulations  for  the  guidance  of  the  Works  Com- 
mittees. 

8.  Fines  shall  be  deducted,  subject  to  the  provisions  of  the  Truck 
Acts,  from  the  wages  due  to  the  workmen  penalized,  and  unless 
remitted  by  the  end  of  four  weeks  from  date  of  deduction,  shall  be 
handed  over  to  some  fund  at  the  works  where  the  offender  is  em- 
ployed to  be  used  for  the  benefit  of  the  workmen  or  their  depend- 
ants, or  be  handed  over  to  some  agreed  upon  local  charity. 

9.  The  regulations  herein  shall  apply  by  agreement  to  all  work- 
men members  of  the  Cleveland  Blastfumacemen's  Association.  Any 
workman  outside  the  Cleveland  Blastfumacemen's  Association,  and 
employed  at  the  Ironmasters'  works,  may  submit  his  case  for  judg- 
ment to  the  Committees  if  he  so  desires  and  be  bound  by  the  de- 
cision given. 

10.  Each  Employer  party  to  this  arrangement  shall  authorize 
one  of  his  clerical  staff  to  act  as  Secretary  to  the  Works  Committee, 
and  such  person  shall  keep  a  record  of  the  decisions  given  by  the 
Committee  for  the  particular  works  and  shall  transmit  at  the  end 
of  each  calendar  month  a  record  of  such  decisions  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  Central  Committee  and  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Cleveland 
Blastfumacemen's  Association. 

11.  The  Committees  under  this  scheme  shall  exist  so  long  as 
Munition  Tribunals  under  the  Munitions  of  War  Act  continue  to 
operate,  but  the  regulations  may  be  varied  at  the  end  of  six  months 
on  the  application  of  either  party  hereto. 

12.  The  requisite  agreements  to  be  made  immediately  by  the  two 


436  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Associations   concerned    for   enal)ling    the    Committees   to    exercise 
the  powers  and  perform  tlie  duties  specified  above. 

13.  The  Arbitration  Act,  1889,  shall  not  apjjly  to  any  proceed- 
ings under  this  agreement. 

Signed   on  behalf  of  the  Cleveland   Ironmasters'   Association. 

J.  T.  Atkinson, 

Secretary. 

Signed  on  behalf  of  the  Cleveland  and  Durham  Blastfurnace- 
men  and  Cokemen's  Association. 

Thos.  McKenna, 

Secretary. 
Middlesbrough, 

July  24th,  1917. 

(B)  ii.  Note  on  Working  of  These  Committees 

It  is  agreed  on  both  sides  that  these  Committees  have  worked  very 
satisfactorily;  both  employers  and  employees  regard  the  Works 
Committees  as  a  far  better  means  of  investigating  and  settling  ques- 
tions of  this  character  than  that  of  taking  the  men  before  the  Muni- 
tions Tribunals.  Some  twenty-eight  Committees,  all  of  them  joint 
in  membership,  have  been  set  up,  but  it  has  not  been  necessary  for 
all  of  them  to  meet.  The  Central  Committee  had  not  met  up  to  the 
end  of  January,  1918,  though  two  or  three  cases  had  been  recently 
filed  for  that  Committee.  A  Works  Committee  is  generally  unani- 
mous about  its  decision — whether  or  not  a  fine  should  be  imposed, 
or  the  amount  of  the  fine.  In  a  large  proportion  of  cases,  more  than 
half,  a  reduction  or  remission  of  fines  has  been  allowed  in  accordance 
with  section  6  (/).  Those  workmen  who  are  not  members  of  the 
union  usually  avail  themselves  of  section  9  of  the  Agreement  to  sub- 
mit their  cases  to  the  Works  Committee. 


APPENDIX  V 

National  and  District  Schemes — Shop  Stewards 

(A)  Memorandum   of   Conference   between   the   Engineering   Em- 

ployers' Federation  and  thirteen  Trade  Unions. 

(B)  Clyde  Shipyards  Joint  Trades'  Vigilant  Committee. 

(C)  Coventry  Engineering  Joint  Committee — Shop  Rules. 

The  following  schemes  are  printed  as  further  illustrations  of  the 
problem  discussed  in  Section  VI.  of  the  Report — "Relations  with 


APPENDIX  G  437 

Trade  Unions."  (A)  is  the  agreement  come  to  in  December,  1917, 
between  representatives  of  the  Engineering  Employers'  Federation 
and  of  thirteen  Trade  Unions.  (D)  is  a  Trade  Union  district  scheme 
of  organization  of  Shop  Stewards  and  Works  Committees  instituted 
before  the  war.  (C)  gives  the  proposals  put  forward  by  the  Cov- 
entry Engineering  Trades'  Joint  Committee  for  their  district  be- 
fore the  negotiations  which  resulted  in    (A)   were  initiated. 

(A)  Memorandum    of    Conference    between    the    Engineering 
Employers'  Federation  and  thirteen  Trade  Unions  ^ 

It  is  mutually  agreed  to  recommend  as  follows: — 

Regulations   Regarding  the  Appointment   and   Functions   op 
Shop  Stewards 

With  a  view  to  amplifying  the  provisions  for  avoiding  disputes 
it  is  agreed: — 

1.  The  workmen  who  are  members  of  the  above  Trade  Unions, 
employed  in  a  Federated  establishment,  may  appoint  representa- 
tives from  their  own  number  to  act  on  their  behalf  in  accordance 
with  the  terms  of  this  Agreement. 

2.  The  representatives  shall  be  known  as  Shojj  Stewards. 

3.  The  method  of  election  of  Shop  Stewards  shall  be  determined 
by  the  Trade  Unions  concerned,  and  each  Trade  Union,  parties  to 
this  Agreement,  may  appoint  Shop  Stewards. 

4.  The  names  of  the  Shop  Stewards,  and  the  shop  or  portion  of  a 
shop  in  which  they  are  employed,  and  the  Trade  Union  to  which  they 
belong,  shall  be  intimated  officially  by  the  Trade  Union  concerned 
in  the  management  on  election. 

5.  Shop  Stewards  shall  be  subject  to  the  control  of  the  Trade 
Unions,  and  shall  act  in  accordance  with  the  rules  and  regulations 
of  the  Trade  Unions  and  agreements  with  employers  so  far  as  these 
affect  the  relation  between  employers  and  workpeople. 

6.  In  connection  with  this  Agreement,  Shop  Stewards  shall  be 
afforded  facilities  to  deal  with  questions  raised  in  the  shop  or  por- 
tion of  a  shop  in  which  they  are  employed.     In  the  course  of  dealing 

1  Steam  Engine  Makers'  Society,  Society  of  Amalgamated  Toolmakers, 
etc.,  U.K.  Society  of  Amalgamated  Smiths  and  Strikers,  National  So- 
ciety of  Amalgamated  Brassfounders  and  Metal  Mechanics,  Associated 
Blacksmiths  and  Iron  Workers'  Society,  Workers'  Union,  National 
Amalgamated  Union  of  Labor,  United  Machine  Workers'  Association, 
Electrical  Trades  Union,  United  .Journeymen  Brassfounders,  etc..  Amal- 
gamated Society  of  Coremakers,  National  Union  of  General  Workers, 
and  National  Amalgamated  Union  of  Enginemen,  etc. 


438  managp:ment  and  men 

^vitll  these  fiuestions  they  may,  with  the  previous  consent  of  the 
management  (such  consent  not  to  be  unreasonably  withheld),  visit 
any  other  shop  or  portion  of  a  shop  in  the  establishment.  In  all 
other  respects  they  shall  conform  to  the  same  working  conditions 
as  their  fellow -workmen. 

7.  Employers  and  Shop  Stewards  shall  not  be  entitled  to  enter 
into  an3'  agreement  inconsistent  with  agreements  between  the  En- 
gineering Employers'  Federation  or  Local  Association  and  the  Trade 
Unions. 

8.  The  functions  of  Shop  Stewards,  so  far  as  they  are  concerned 
with  the  avoidance  of  disputes,  shall  be  exercised  in  accordance  with 
the  following  procedure : — 

(a)  A  workman  or  workmen  desiring  to  raise  any  question  in 
which  he  or  they  are  directly  concerned,  shall  in  the 
first  instance  discuss  the  same  with  his  or  their  foreman. 

(fe)  Failing  settlement,  the  question  shall,  if  desired,  be  taken 
up  with  the  management  by  the  appropriate  Shop  Stew- 
ard and  one  of  the  workmen  directly  concerned. 

(c)  If  no  settlement  is  arrived  at,  the  question  may,  at  the  re- 

quest of  either  party,  be  further  considered  at  a  meeting 
to  be  arranged  between  the  management  and  the  appro- 
priate Shop  Steward,  together  with  a  deputation  of  the 
workmen  directly  concerned.  At  this  meeting  the  Or- 
ganizing District  Delegate  may  be  present,  in  which 
event  a  representative  of  the  Employers'  Association 
shall  also  be  present. 

(d)  The  question  may  thereafter  be  referred  for  further  con- 

sideration in  terms  of  the  Provisions  for  Avoiding  Dis- 
putes. 

(e)  No  stoppage  of  work  shall  take  place  until  the  question 

has  been  fully  dealt  with  in  accordance  with  this  Agree- 
ment and  with  the  Provisions  for  Avoiding  Disputes. 

9.  In  the  event  of  a  question  arising  which  affects  more  than  one 
branch  of  trade,  or  more  than  one  department  of  the  works,  the 
negotiations  thereon  shall  be  conducted  by  the  management  with 
the  Shop  Stewards  concerned.  Should  the  number  of  Shop  Stew- 
ards concerned  exceed  seven,  a  deputation  shall  be  appointed  by 
them,  not  exceeding  seven,  for  the  purpose  of  the  particular  nego- 
tiation. 

10.  Negotiations  under  this  agreement  may  be  instituted  either 
bj'  the  management  or  by  the  workmen  concerned. 

11.  The  recognition  of  Shop  Stewards  is  accorded  in  order  that  a 


APPENDIX  G  439 

further  safeguard  may   be  provided   against    disputes   arising   be- 
tween employers  and  their  workpeople. 

12.  Any  questions  which  may  arise  out  of  the  operation  of  this 
Agreement  shall  be  brought  before  the  Executive  of  the  Trade 
Union  concerned,  or  the  Federation,  as  the  case  may  be. 

(B)   Clyde  Shipyards  Joint  Trades'  Vigilant  Committee  i 

Rules 

1.  This  Committee  shall  consist  of  Trade  Unions  representative  of 
the  workmen  employed  in  the  Clyde  Shipyards. 

2.  Its  object  shall  be  to  endeavor  to  adjust  all  complaints  of  a 
general  character,  endeavor  to  secure  uniformity  in  the  conditions 
of  employment  of  the  members  and  strengthen  and  perfect  the 
organizations  of  the  affiliated  Unions. 

(a)  By  representatives  of  the  Society  affected  at  once  reporting 

the  matter  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Yard  Vigilant  Commit- 
tee. 

(b)  By  insisting  that  all  non-union  members  of  the  respective 

trades  shall  become  members  of  their  Trade  Union. 

(c)  By  dealing  with  any  member  of  an  affiliated  Union  who 

fails  to  keep  himself  in  compliance  with  the  Rules  of  his 
Union. 

Yard  Vigilance  Committees 

3.  A  Vigilance  Committee  shall  be  appointed  in  each  yard  or 
dock,  composed  of  one  representative  from  each  Society  affiliated. 
Societies  having  more  than  one  section  of  workmen  shall  be  en- 
titled to  one  representative  from  each  section. 

4.  The  Committee  shall  appoint  a  Secretary  to  whom  all  com- 
plaints shall  be  lodged  by  members  of  the  Committee. 

5.  Each  Shop  Steward  must  examine  the  contribution  cards  of 
the  members  of  their  own  societies  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  each 
month,  and  interview  new  starts  immediately  after  starting. 

6.  The  Committee  will  meet  at  least  monthly. 

7.  Representatives  of  each  society  must  attend  and  report  to  the 
Committee  as  to  the  condition  of  the  members  under  his  supervision. 

8.  On  receipt  of  a  complaint,  the  Committee  shall  endeavor  to 

1  The  first  meeting  was  held  on  the  14th  February,  1911.  A  similar 
organization  in  Engineerins: — The  West  of  Scotland  Locomotive  and 
General  Engineering  Joint  Trades'  Vigilant  Committee — was  instituted 
in  September,  1914.  It  had  then  been  under  consideration  for  some 
months. 


440  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

effect  a  settlement  by  interviewing  the  foreman  or  management. 
Failing  adjustment  the  matter  must  then  be  reported  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Central  Board. 

9.  The  machinery  of  each  society  for  dealing  with  such  questionK 
must  first  be  exhausted  before  reporting  to  the  Yard  Vigilant  Com- 
mittee. 

10.  The  Secretary  must  send  in  his  official  report  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  Central  Board  on  the  second  last  Thursday  of  March,  June, 
September,  and  December. 

11.  Should  any  member  of  the  Yard  Vigilant  Committee  be  penal- 
ized for  taking  part  in  the  work  of  the  Committee,  such  cases  must 
be  immediately  reported  to  the  Secretary  and  taken  up  jointly. 

12.  Where  the  Secretary  of  the  Committee  has  been  changed,  the 
name  and  address  of  his  successor  must  be  forwarded  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Central  Board. 

13.  Expenses  incurred  by  the  Committee  for  room  rent,  station- 
ery and  postages,  will  be  met  by  the  Central  Board.  All  such  ac- 
counts must  be  sent  quarterly  to  the  Secretary  and  submitted  to  the 
Central  Board  for  approval. 

14.  Under  no  circumstances  can  the  Yard  Vigilant  Committee 
authorize  a  stoppage  of  work,  either  of  a  partial  or  general  nature. 

Arrears. — Members  over  lO.s.  in  arrears  must  reduce  same  at  the 
rate  of  26-.  6d.  per  week;  15s.,  5s.  per  week;  and  20s.,  lO.s.  for  the  first 
week  and  5s.  per  week  thereafter. 

Central  Board 

15.  A  Central  Board  shall  be  appointed  and  shall  consist  of  a  re- 
sponsible representative  of  each  Union  aflSliated.  Societies  having 
separate  sections  administered  separately  shall  be  entitled  to  one 
representative  from  each  section. 

16.  Their  duties  shall  be  to  see  that  a  Vigilant  Committee  is  ap- 
pointed in  each  yard  or  dock,  and  deal  with  all  complaints  re- 
mitted to  them  by  the  Yard  Committees. 

17.  They  shall  annually  elect  a  Chairman  and  Secretary  from 
amongst  their  number,  the  latter  to  act  as  Treasurer. 

18.  The  Secretary  on  receiving  a  complaint  from  a  Yard  Com- 
mittee, may,  after  consultation  with  the  Chairman  of  the  Central 
Board  and  the  representative  of  the  Trade  directly  concerned,  en- 
deavor to  get  the  matter  adjusted,  failing  which  the  Central  Board 
will  be  convened. 

19.  Before  any  stoppage  of  work  takes  place,  the  consent  of 
the  Central  Board  of  tliis  Committee  must  be  obtained. 

20.  To  meet  expenses  the  Central  Board  shall  make  a  call  upon 


APPENDIX  G  441 

each  society  affiliated  for  such  sum  as  may  from  time  to  time  be 
agreed  upon. 

21.  Meetings  of  the  Central  Board  will  be  held  on  the  last  Friday 
of  each  quarter,  or  oftener  if,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Chairman  and 
Secretary,  such  is  necessary. 

( C )   Coventry  Engineering  Joint  Committee  ^ 
Shop  Rules  and  Instructions  for  Stewards. 

1.  That  the  Coventry  Engineering  Joint  Committee  shall  be  the 
Executive  Committee  over  all  Shop  Stewards  and  Works  Commit- 
tees affiliated.  Any  change  of  practice  in  any  shop  or  works  must 
receive  the  consent  of  the  Joint  Engineering  Committee  before  be- 
ing accepted  by  the  men  concerned. 

2.  That  all  nominees  for  Shop  Stewards  must  be  members  of  So- 
cieties affiliated  to  the  Coventry  Engineering  Joint  Committee. 

3.  Stewards  shall  be  elected  by  ballot  for  a  term  not  exceeding 
six  months;  all  retiring  Stewards  to  be  eligible  for  reelection. 

4.  Each  section  shall  be  able  to  elect  a  Steward  irrespective  of 
Society. 

5.  The  Stewards  of  each  department  shall  elect  a  Chief  Steward. 

6.  The  Chief  Stewards  of  departments  shall  constitute  the  Works 
Committee,  who,  if  exceeding  12  in  number,  can  appoint  an  Execu- 
tive Committee  of  seven,  including  Chairman  and  Secretary. 

7.  All  Stewards  shall  have  an  official  Steward's  Card  issued  by 
Joint  Committee. 

8.  Each  Steward  on  being  elected,  and  the  same  endorsed  by  his 
Society,  the  Joint  Committee  Secretary  shall  send  him  an  official 
card. 

9.  The  Steward  must  examine  any  man's  membership  card  who 
starts  in  the  shop  in  his  section.  He  should  then  advise  the  man 
to  report  to  his  respective  Secretary,  and  give  him  any  information 
required  on  rates  and  conditions,  etc.  There  shall  be  a  show  of 
cards  every  month  to  ascertain  if  every  member  is  a  sound  member, 

1  The  twenty-one  societies  affiliated  are: — Friendly  Society  of  Iron- 
founders,  Steam  Engine  Makers,  United  Machine  Workers,  Amalgamated 
Society  of  Engineers,  Amalgamated  Toolmakers,  Smiths  and  Strikers, 
Brassworkers  and  Metal  Mechanics,  Coppersmiths,  United  Brass  Finish- 
ers, Electrical  Trades  Union,  Boilermakers,  Coremakers,  Patternmakers, 
United  Coach  Makers,  Progressive  Tin  Plate  Workers,  National  Federa- 
tion of  Women  Workers,  National  I'nion  of  Clerks,  Amalgamated  Car- 
penters and  Joiners,  General  Union  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners,  London 
and  Provincial  Coach  Makers,  and  Amalgamated  Wood  Cutting  Ma- 
chinists. 


442  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

and  if  any  member  is  in  arrears  (eight  weeks)  lie  must  report  same 
to  the  Chief  Steward. 

10.  If  there  is  any  doubt  of  any  man  not  receiving  the  district 
rate  of  wages,  the  Steward  can  demand  to  examine  pay  ticket. 

11.  Any  member  accepting  a  price  or  time  basis  for  a  job  must 
hand  record  of  same  to  his  Section  Steward,  who  sliall  keep  a  record 
of  times  and  prices  on  his  section  of  any  work,  and  hand  the  same  to 
Chief  Shop  Steward. 

12.  The  Chief  Steward  shall  keep  a  record  of  all  times  and  prices 
recorded  to  liim  by  sections  of  his  department.  On  a  section  being 
not  represented  he  shall  see  to  the  election  of  Steward  for  such  sec- 
tion. 

13.  Any  grievance  arising  on  any  section  must  be  reported  to  Chief 
Shop  Steward,  who  shall,  with  Steward  on  section  and  man  con- 
cerned, interview  foreman  or  manager.  Failing  redress,  the  Chief 
Steward  then  to  report  to  the  Works  Committee. 

14.  The  Works  Committee  shall  be  empowered  to  take  any  case 
of  dispute  before  the  management,  not  less  than  three  to  act  as 
deputation. 

15.  On  the  Works  Committee  failing  to  come  to  any  agreement 
with  the  management,  they  must  immediately  report  to  the  En- 
gineering Joint  Committee,  who  shall  take  up  the  matter  with  the 
firm  concerned,  a  representative  of  the  Works  Committee  to  be  one 
of  the  deputation.  It  is  essential,  pending  negotiations,  that  no 
stoppage  of  work  shall  take  place  without  the  sanction  of  the  Engi- 
neering Joint  Committee. 

16.  A  full  list  of  all  Shop  Stewards  must  be  kept  by  the  Joint 
Committee.  Any  change  of  Stewards  must  be  reported  to  the 
Joint  Committee's  Secretary. 

17.  The  Joint  Committee  shall  be  empowered  to  call  meetings  of 
Stewards  at  any  works,  also  meetings  of  all  Chief  Stewards  in  the 
district  when  the  Joint  Committee  so  decides,  if  necessary. 

18.  If  at  any  time  of  dispute  the  Engineering  Joint  Committee  de- 
cides upon  the  withdrawal  of  its  members  from  any  firm  or  firms, 
the  Stewards  shall  be  issued  a  special  oflficial  badge  from  this  Com- 
mittee with  the  idea  of  assisting  to  keep  order,  if  necessary,  in  the 
interests  of  the  members  concerned. 


APPENDIX  G  448 

APPENDIX  VI 

MINISTRY  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Committee  on  Relations  beta^vteen  Employers  and  Employed 

Supplementary  Report  on  Works  Committees 

To  the  Right  Honorable  D.  Lloyd  George,  M.P., 
Prime  Minister. 
Sir, 

In  our  first  and  second  Reports  we  have  referred  to  the  establish- 
ment of  Works  Committees,!  representative  of  the  management  and 
of  the  workpeople,  and  appointed  from  within  the  works,  as  an 
essential  part  of  the  scheme  of  organization  suggested  to  secure 
improved  relations  between  employers  and  employed.  The  purpose 
of  the  present  Report  is  to  deal  more  fully  with  the  proposal  to 
institute  such  Committees. 

2.  Better  relations  between  employers  and  their  workpeople  can 
best  be  arrived  at  by  granting  to  the  latter  a  greater  share  in  the 
consideration  of  matters  with  which  they  are  concerned.  In  every 
industry  there  are  certain  questions,  such  as  rates  of  wages  and 
hours  of  work,  which  should  be  settled  by  District  or  National  agree- 
ment, and  with  any  matter  so  settled  no  Works  Committee  should 
be  allowed  to  interfere;  but  there  are  also  many  questions  closely 
affecting  daily  life  and  comfort  in,  and  the  success  of,  the  business, 
and  affecting  in  no  small  degree  efficiency  of  working,  which  are 
peculiar  to  the  individual  workshop  or  factory.  The  purpose  of 
a  Works  Committee  is  to  establish  and  maintain  a  system  of  co- 
operation in  all  these  workshop  matters. 

3.  We  have  throughout  our  recommendations  proceeded  upon  the 
assumption  that  the  greatest  success  is  likely  to  be  achieved  by  leav- 
ing to  the  representative  bodies  of  employers  and  employed  in  each 
industry  the  maximum  degree  of  freedom  to  settle  for  themselves 
precise  form  of  Council  or  Committee  which  should  be  adopted, 
having  regard  in  each  case  to  the  particular  circumstances  of  the 
trade;  and,  in  accordance  with  this  principle,  we  refrain  from  indi- 
cating any  definite  form  of  constitution  for  the  Works  Conmait- 
tees.     Our  proposals  as  a  whole  assume  the  existence  of  organiza- 

1  In  the  use  of  the  term  "Works  Committees"  in  this  Report  it  is  not 
intended  to  use  the  word  "works"  in  a  technical  sense;  in  such  an  in- 
dustry as  the  Coal  Trade,  for  example,  the  term  "Pit  Committees"  would 
probably  be  the  term  used  in  adopting  the  scheme. 


44.4  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

tions  of  both  employers  and  employed  and  a  frank  and  full  recog- 
nition of  such  organizations.  Works  Committees  established  other- 
wise than  in  accordance  with  these  principles  could  not  be  regarded 
as  a  part  of  the  scheme  we  have  recommended,  and  might  indeed  be 
a  hindrance  to  the  development  of  the  new  relations  in  industry 
to  which  we  look  forward.  We  think  the  aim  should  be  the  com- 
plete and  coherent  organization  of  the  trade  on  both  sides,  and 
Works  Coimnittees  will  be  of  value  in  so  far  as  they  contribute  to 
such  a  result. 

4.  We  are  of  opinion  that  the  complete  success  of  Works  Com- 
mittees necessarily  depends  largely  upon  the  degree  and  efficiency 
of  organization  in  the  trade,  and  upon  the  extent  to  which  the 
Committees  can  be  linked  up,  through  organizations  that  we  have 
in  mind,  with  the  remainder  of  the  scheme  which  we  are  proposing, 
viz.,  the  District  and  National  Councils.  We  think  it  important 
to  state  that  the  success  of  the  Works  Committees  would  be  very 
seriously  interfered  with  if  the  idea  existed  that  such  Committees 
were  used,  or  likely  to  be  used,  by  employers  in  opposition  to  Trade 
Unionism.  It  is  strongly  felt  that  the  setting  up  of  Works  Com- 
mittees without  the  cooperation  of  the  Trade  Unions  and  the  Em- 
ployers' Associations  in  the  trade  or  branch  of  trade  concerned 
would  stand  in  the  way  of  the  improved  industrial  relationships 
which  in  these  Reports  we  are  endeavoring  to  further. 

5.  In  an  industry  where  the  workpeople  are  unorganized,  or  only 
very  partially  organized,  there  is  a  danger  that  Works  Committees 
may  be  used,  or  thought  to  be  used,  in  opposition  to  Trade  Union- 
ism. It  is  important  that  such  fears  should  be  guarded  against  in 
the  initiation  of  any  scheme.  We  look  upon  successful  Works  Com- 
mittees as  the  broad  base  of  the  Industrial  Structure  which  we 
have  recommended,  and  as  the  means  of  enlisting  the  interest  of  the 
workers  in  the  success  both  of  the  industry  to  which  they  are  at- 
tached and  of  the  workshop  or  factory  where  so  much  of  their  life 
is  spent.  These  Committees  should  not,  in  constitution  or  methods 
of  working,  discourage  Trade  organizations. 

6.  Works  Committees,  in  our  opinion,  should  have  regular  meet- 
ings at  fixed  times,  and,  as  a  general  rule,  not  less  frequently  than 
once  a  fortnight.  They  should  always  keep  in  the  forefront  the 
idea  of  constructive  cooperation  in  the  improvement  of  the  industry 
to  which  they  belong.  Suggestions  of  all  kinds  tending  to  improve- 
ment should  be  frankly  welcomed  and  freely  discussed.  Practical 
proposals  should  be  examined  from  all  points  of  view.  There  is 
an  undeveloped  asset  of  constructive  ability — valuable  alike  to  the 
industry  and  to  the  State — awaiting  the  means  of  realization ;  prob- 


APPENDIX  G  445 

lems,  old  and  new,  will  find  their  solution  in  a  frank  partnership 
of  knowledge,  experience  and  goodwill.  Works  Committees  would 
fail  in  their  main  purpose  if  they  existed  only  to  smooth  over  griev- 
ances. 

7.  We  recognize  that,  from  time  to  time,  matters  will  arise  which 
the  management  or  the  workmen  consider  to  be  questions  they  can- 
not discuss  in  these  joint  meetings.  When  this  occurs,  we  antici- 
pate that  nothing  but  good  will  come  from  the  friendly  statement 
of  the  reasons  why  the  reservation  is  made. 

8.  We  regard  the  successful  development  and  utilization  of  Works 
Committees  in  any  business  on  the  basis  recommended  in  this  Re- 
port as  of  equal  importance  with  its  commercial  and  scientific  ef- 
ficiency; and  we  think  that  in  every  case  one  of  the  partners  or 
directors,  or  some  other  responsible  representative  of  the  manage- 
ment, would  be  well  advised  to  devote  a  substantial  part  of  his  time 
and  thought  to  the  good  working  and  development  of  such  a  com- 
mittee. 

9.  There  has  been  some  experience,  both  before  the  war  and 
during  the  war,  of  the  benefits  of  Works  Committees,  and  we  think 
it  should  be  recommended  most  strongly  to  employers  and  employed 
that,  in  connection  with  the  scheme  for  the  establishment  of  Na- 
tional and  District  Industrial  Councils,  they  should  examine  this 
experience  with  a  view  to  the  institution  of  Works  Committees  on 
proper  lines,  in  works  where  the  conditions  render  their  formation 
practicable.  We  have  recommended  that  the  Ministry  of  Labor 
should  prepare  a  summary  of  the  experience  available  with  refer- 
ence to  Works  Committees,  both  before  and  during  the  war,  includ- 
ing information  as  to  any  rules  or  reports  relating  to  such  Commit- 
tees, and  should  issue  a  memorandum  thereon  for  the  guidance  of 
employers  and  workpeople  generally,  and  we  understand  that  such 
a  memorandum  is  now  in  course  of  preparation. i 

10.  In  order  to  ensure  uniform  and  common  principles  of  action, 
it  is  essential  that  where  National  and  District  Industrial  Councils 
exist  the  Works  Committees  should  be  in  close  touch  with  them,  and 
the  scheme  for  linking  up  Works  Committees  with  the  Councils 
should  be  considered  and  determined  by  the  National  Councils. 

11.  We  have  considered  it  better  not  to  attempt  to  indicate  any 
specific  form  of  Works  Committees.  Industrial  establishments 
show  such  infinite  variation  in  size,  number  of  persons  employed, 
multiplicity  of  departments,  and  other  conditions,  that  the  par- 
ticular form  of  Works  Committees  must  necessarily  be  adapted  to 
the  circumstances  of  each  ease.     It  would,  therpfore,  be  impossible 

1  The  reference  is  to  the  present  Report. 


416 


MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 


to   formulate  any   satisfactory   scheme   which   docs   not   provided   a 
large  measure  of  elasticity. 

We  are  confident  that  the  nature  of  the  particular  organization 
necessary  for  the  various  cases  will  he  settled  without  difficulty  by 
the  exercise  of  goodwill  on  l)otli  sides. 
We  have  the  honor  to  be,  Sir, 

Your  obedient  Servants,^ 

J.    H.    Whitley,    Chairman. 

F.  S.  Button. 
S.  J.  Chapman. 

G.  H.   Claughton. 
J.  R.  Clynes. 

F.  N.  Hepworth. 

Wilfrid   Hill. 

j.  a.  hobson. 

A.  Susan  Lawrence. 

Maurice  Levy. 

J.  J.  Mallon. 

Thos.   R.   Ratcliffe-Ellis. 

Allan  M.  Smith. 

D.  R.  H.  Williams. 

MoNA  Wilson, 


H.  J.  Wilson, 
A.  Greenwood 

18th  October,  1917 


Secretaries. 


APPENDIX  VII 


Scheme  of  Local  Joint  Pits  Committees 


The  following  scheme  has  recently  been  introduced.  It  is  par- 
ticularly interesting  as  an  attempt  to  apply  the  ideas  of  the  Whitley 
Report  to  part  of  the  coal-mining  industry. 

1  Sir  G.  J.  Carter  and  Mr.  Smillie  were  unable  to  attend  any  of  the 
meetings  at  which  this  Report  was  considered  and  they  therefore  do  not 
sign  it.  Sir  G.  J.  Carter  has  intimated  that  in  his  view,  in  accordance 
with  the  principles  indicated  in  para<:raplis  3,  4  and  5  of  tlie  Report, 
it  is  important  that  Works  Committees  should  not  deal  witli  matters 
which  ought  to  be  directly  dealt  with  by  the  firms  concerned  or  their 
respective  Associations  in  conjunction  with  the  recognized  representa- 
tives of  the  Trade  Unions  whose  members  are  aflfected. 


APPENDIX  G  447 

Joint  Committee  of  Representatives  op  the  Lancashire  and 
Cheshire  Coal  Association,  and  the  Lancashire  and  Che- 
shire Miners'  Federation. 

Resolved:  That  the  Joint  Committee  recommend  the  establish- 
ment, with  the  least  possible  delay,  of  Local  Joint  Pit  Committees 
at  the  various  Collieries  in  the  two  Counties,  and  that  the  functions 
of  the  Committees  shall  be  those  set  out  below,  and  that  the  Rules 
of  Procedure  also  set  out  below  should  be  adopted. 

The  functions  exercisable  by  the  Local  Joint  Pits  Committees  and 
the  Rules  of  Procedure  for  the  conduct  of  the  business. 

1.  The  title  of  the  Committee  shall  be  "The  Local  Joint  Pits  Com- 
mittee." 

2.  The  Committee  shall  exercise  the  following  functions : — 

(a)   To  investigate  and  report  to  Manager  eases  of  shortage  of 

tubs. 
(6)   To   investigate   and  report   anything   interfering  with   the 

possibilities   of   output,   such   as   poor   haulage,   blocked 

or  congested  roadways. 

(c)  To  investigate  and  report  to  Manager  complaints  of  min- 

imum wage  and  abnormal  places  allowances. 

(d)  To   stimulate  regular   attendance   and  report  to   Manager 

persistent  absentees. 

(e)  Generally  to  investigate  and  report  to  the  Manager  any- 

thing else  which  in  their  opinion  is  interfering  with  the 
satisfactory  working  of  the  mine. 
(/)   Any  other  functions  which  may  from  time  to  time  be  dele- 
gated to  them  by  the  Joint  Committee. 

3.  The  Committee  shall  consist  of  not  less  than  three,  nor  more 
than  five  representatives  of  the  employers,  and  an  equal  number  of 
representatives  of  the  workmen  employed  at  the  mine.  The  Manager 
of  the  mine  shall  be  the  Chairman. 

4.  Two  members  of  each  class  of  representative  present  shall 
form  a  quorum. 

5.  The  respective  representatives  on  the  Committee  shall  each 
appoint  one  of  their  number  to  act  as  Secretary. 

6.  Meetings  of  the  Committee  shall  be  held  once  a  month.  Pro- 
vided that  a  Special  Meeting  may  be  held  at  any  time  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  whole  of  the  members  of  either  side  given  to  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  other  side.  Five  days'  notice  to  be  given  of  any  meet- 
ing, ordinary  or  special;  and  the  Agenda  of  the  business  to  be  con- 
sidered at  the  meeting  to  be  submitted  by  the  Secretaries  to  each 
member  of  the  Board  with  the  notice  calling  the  meeting.    No  busi- 


448  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

ncss  to  bo  transacted  at  any  meeting  other  tlian  that  on  the  Agenda. 
No  matter  shall  be  placed  on  the  Agenda  without  an  opportunity 
having  been  previously  given  to  the  oHicials  of  the  mine  of  dealing 
with  it. 

7.  The  proceedings  of  eacli  Committee  shall  be  taken  and  tran- 
scribed in  du[)licate  books,  and  each  book  shall  be  signed  by  the  two 
Secretaries  at  tlie  lueetmg  at  which  such  minutes  are  read  and  con- 
firmed. One  copy  of  such  minutes  shall  be  kept  by  each  of  the 
Secretaries.  The  Secretaries  shall  also  conduct  the  correspondence 
for  the  respective  parties,  and  conjointly  for  the  Committee. 

8.  In  the  event  of  any  matter  arising  which  the  Committee  can- 
not agree  upon,  and  failing  agreement  between  the  Manager  and 
the  local  Federation  Agent,  the  difference  shall  be  submitted  to 
the  Joint  District  Committee,  whose  decision  shall  be  final. 

9.  Each  party  shall  pay  and  defray  the  expenses  of  its  own  repre- 
sentatives and  Secretary. 

Dated  this  Eleventh  day  of  February,  1918. 
Lionel  E.  Pilkington, 

President  of  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  Coal  Association 
and  of  the  Joint  Committee. 
Thomas  Greenall, 

President  of  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  Miners'  Federa- 
tion, and  Vice-President  of  the  Joint   Committee. 
Thos.  K.  Ratcl4Ppe-Ellis, 

Secretary  of  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  Coal  Association, 
and  of  the  Joint  Committee. 
Thomas  Ashton, 

Secretary  of  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  Miners'  Federa- 
tion, and  of  the  Joint  Committee. 

INDUSTRIAL  REPORTS.  NUMBER  3 

INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS  AND  TRADE  BOARDS 

Joint  Memorandum  of  the  Minister  of  Reconstruction  and  the 
Minister  of  Labor,  explaining  the  Government's  view  of  the  pro- 
posals of  the  Second  Whitley  Report,  together  with  the  Text  of  the 
Report. 


APPENDIX  G  449 


INDUSTRIAL   COUNCILS   AND    TRADE   BOARDS 

Joint  Memorandum  by  the  Minister  of  Reconstruction  and  the 
Minister  of  Labor. 

1.  The  proposals  contained  in  the  First  Report  on  Joint  Standing 
Industrial  Councils  of  the  Committee  on  Relations  between  Em- 
ployers and  Employed  have  been  adopted  by  the  Government.  The 
steps  which  have  been  taken  to  establish  Industrial  Councils  have 
enabled  the  Government  to  consider  the  proposals  of  the  Second 
Report  on  Joint  Standing  Industrial  Councils  in  the  light  of  ex- 
perience. This  Report,  which  deals  with  industries  other  than 
those  which  are  highly  organized,  follows  naturally  upon  the  First 
Report  of  the  Committee,  and  develops  the  line  of  policy  therein 
proposed.  It  has  not  been  found  possible  from  the  administra- 
tive point  of  view  to  adopt  the  whole  of  the  recommendations  con- 
tained in  the  Second  Report,  but  such  modifications  as  it  seems 
desirable  to  make  do  not  affect  the  principles  underlying  the  Com- 
mittee's proposal  for  the  establishment  of  Joint  Industrial  Councils. 
They  are  designed  to  take  advantage  of  the  administrative  experi- 
ence of  the  Ministrj^  of  Labor  with  regard  to  both  Industrial  Coun- 
cils and  Trade  Boards.  In  view  of  the  growing  interest  which  is 
being  taken  in  the  establishment  of  Industrial  Councils  and  of  the 
proposed  extension  of  Trade  Boards,  it  appears  desirable  to  set 
forth  the  modifications  which  the  Government  regard  as  necessary 
in  putting  into  operation  the  recommendations  of  the  Second  Report, 
and  also  to  make  clear  the  relations  between  Trade  Boards  and 
Industrial  Councils. 

2.  The  First  Report  on  Joint  Standing  Industrial  Councils  re- 
ferred only  to  the  well-organized  industries.  The  Second  Report 
deals  with  the  less  organized  and  unorganized  trades,  and  suggests 
the  classification  of  the  industries  of  the  country  into  three  groups : — 

"Group  A. — Consisting  of  industries  in  which  organization  on  the 
part  of  the  employers  and  employed  is  sufficiently  developed 
to  render  their  respective  associations  representative  of  the 
great  majority  of  those  engaged  in  the  industry.  These  are 
the  industries  which  we  had  in  mind  in  our  first  Interim 
Report. 

"Group  B. — Comprising  those  industries  in  which,  either  as  re- 
gards employers  and  employed,  or  both,  the  degree  of  organ- 
ization, though  considerable,  is  less  marked  than  in  Group 
A. 

"Group  C. — Consisting  of  industries  in  which  organiiiation  is  so 


450  MANAGEiMENT  AND  MEN 

imperfect,  either  as  regards  employers  or  employed,  or  botli, 
that  no  associations  can  be  said  adequately  to  represent  those 
engaged  in  the  industry." 

The  proposals  of  the  Committee  on  Relations  between  Employers 
and  Employed  are  summarized  in  paragraph  20  of  their  Second 
Report  as  follows: — 

"(a)  In  the  more  highly  organized  industries  (Group  A.)  we 
propose  a  triple  organization  of  national,  district,  and 
workshop  bodies,  as  outlined  in  our  First  Report. 

"(b)  In  industries  where  there  are  representative  associations  of 
employers  and  employed,  which,  however,  do  not  possess 
the  authority  of  those  in  Group  A.  industries,  we  pro- 
pose that  the  triple  organization  should  be  modified,  by 
attaching  to  each  National  Industrial  Council  one,  or  at 
most  two  representatives  of  the  Ministry  of  Labor  to  act 
in  an  advisory  capacity. 

"(c)  In  industries  in  both  Groups  A.  and  B.,  we  propose  that  un- 
organized areas  or  branches  of  an  industry  should  be  pro- 
vided, on  the  application  of  the  National  Industrial  Coun- 
cil, and  with  the  approval  of  the  Ministry  of  Labor,  with 
Trade  Boards  for  such  areas  or  branches,  the  Trade  Boards 
being  linked  with  the  Industrial  Council. 

"((Z)  In  industries  having  no  adequate  organization  of  employers 
or  employed,  we  recommend  that  Trade  Boards  should  be 
continued  or  established,  and  that  these  should,  with  the 
approval  of  the  Ministry  of  Labor,  be  enabled  to  formu- 
late a  scheme  for  an  Industrial  Council,  which  might  in- 
clude, in  an  advisory  capacity,  the  'appointed  members'  of 
the  Trade  Board." 

It  may  be  convenient  to  set  out  briefly  the  modifications  of  the 
above  proposals,  which  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  make. 

(1)  As  regards  {b)  it  has  been  decided  to  recognize  one  type  of 

Industrial  Council  only,  and  not  to  attach  official  repre- 
sentatives to  the  Council,  except  on  the  application  of  the 
Industrial  Council  itself. 

(2)  As  regards  (c)  and  (d)  the  relations  between  Trade  Boards 

and  Industrial  Councils  raise  a  number  of  serious  adminis- 
trative difficulties  due  to  the  wide  differences  in  the  pur- 
pose and  structure  of  the  two  types  of  bodies.  It  is  not 
regarded  as  advisable  that  a  Trade  Board  should  formulate 
a  scheme  for  an  Industrial  Council,  nor  is  it  probable  that 
Trade  Boards  for  unorganized  areas  will  be  set  up  in  con- 
junction with  a  Joint  Industrial  Council. 


APPENDIX  G  451 

3.  It  is  necessary  at  the  outset  to  emphasize  the  fundamental  dif- 
ferences between  Industrial  Councils  and  Trade  Boards.  A  Joint 
Industrial  Council  is  voluntary  in  its  character  and  can  only  be 
brought  into  existence  with  the  agreement  of  the  organizations  of 
employers  and  workpeople  in  the  particular  industry,  and  the  Coun- 
cil itself  is  composed  exclusively  of  persons  nominated  by  the  Em- 
ployers' Associations  and  Trade  Unions  concerned.  The  Industrial 
Council  is,  moreover,  within  very  wide  limits,  able  to  determine  its 
own  functions,  machinery  and  methods  of  working.  Its  functions 
in  almost  all  cases  will  probably  cover  a  wide  range  and  will  be 
concerned  with  many  matters  other  than  wages.  Its  machinery  and 
methods  will  be  based  upon  past  experience  of  the  industry  and  the 
existing  organization  of  both  employers  and  employed.  Industrial 
Councils  will,  therefore,  vary  in  structure  and  functions  as  can  be 
seen  from  the  provisional  constitutions  already  submitted  to  the 
Ministry  of  Labor.  Financially  they  will  be  self-supporting,  and 
will  receive  no  monetary  aid  from  the  Government.  The  Govern- 
ment proposes  to  recognize  the  Industrial  Council  in  an  industry 
as  the  representative  organization  to  which  it  can  refer.  This  was 
made  clear  in  the  Minister  of  Labor's  circular  letter  of  October  20th, 
1917,  in  which  it  is  said  that  "the  Government  desire  it  to  be  under- 
"stood  that  the  Councils  will  be  recognized  as  the  official  standing 
"consultative  committees  to  the  Government  on  all  future  questions 
"affecting  the  industries  which  they  represent,  and  that  they  will  be 
"the  normal  channel  through  which  the  opinion  and  experience  of 
"an  industry  will  be  sought  on  all  questions  in  which  the  industry 
"is  concerned." 

A  Trade  Board,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  statutory  body  established 
by  the  Minister  of  Labor  and  constituted  in  accordance  with  Regu- 
lations made  by  him  in  pursuance  of  the  Trade  Boards  Act;  and  its 
expenses,  in  so  far  as  authorized  by  the  Minister  of  Labor  and  sanc- 
tioned by  the  Treasury,  are  defrayed  out  of  public  money.  The 
Regulations  may  provide  for  the  election  of  the  representatives  of 
employers  and  workers  or  for  their  nomination  by  the  Minister  of 
Labor,  but  in  either  case  provision  must  be  made  for  the  due  repre- 
sentation of  homeworkers  in  trades  in  which  a  considerable  propor- 
tion of  homeworkers  are  engaged.  On  account  of  the  comparative 
lack  of  organization  in  the  trades  to  which  the  Act  at  present  applies, 
the  method  of  nomination  by  the  Minister  has  proved  in  practice  to 
be  preferable  to  that  of  election,  and  in  nearly  all  eases  the  repre- 
sentative members  of  Trade  Boards  are  now  nominated  by  the 
Minister.  The  Employers'  Associations  and  Trade  Unions  in  the 
several  trades  are  invited  to  submit  the  names  of  candidates  for  the 


452  MANAGEMExXT  AND  MEN 

Minister's  consideration,  and  full  weight  is  attached  to  their  recom- 
mendation, but  where  the  trade  organizations  do  not  fully  represent 
all  sections  of  the  trade,  it  is  necessary  to  look  outside  them  to  find 
representatives  of  the  different  processes  and  districts  affected. 

A  further  distinction  l)etween  Trade  Boards  and  Industrial  Coun- 
cils is,  that  while  Industrial  Councils  are  composed  entirely  of  repre- 
sentatives of  tiie  Eni])loyers'  Associations  and  Trade  Unions  in  the 
industry,  every  Trade  Board  includes,  in  addition  to  the  repre- 
sentative members,  a  small  number  (usually  three)  of  "appointed 
members,"  one  of  whom  is  appointed  by  the  Minister  to  act  as  Chair- 
man and  one  as  Deputy  Chairman  of  the  Board.  The  appointed 
members  are  unconnected  with  the  trade  and  are  appointed  by  the 
Minister  as  impartial  persons.  The  primary  function  of  a  Trade 
Board  is  the  determination  of  minimum  rates  of  wages,  and  when 
the  minimum  rates  of  wages  fixed  by  a  Trade  Board  have  been  con- 
firmed by  the  Minister  of  Labor,  they  are  enforceable  by  criminal 
proceedings,  and  officers  are  appointed  to  secure  their  obsen^ance. 
The  minimum  rates  thus  become  part  of  the  law  of  the  land,  and  are 
enforced  in  the  same  manner  as,  for  example,  the  provisions  of  the 
Factory  Acts.  The  purpose,  structure,  and  functions  of  Industrial 
Councils  and  Trade  Boards  are  therefore  fundamentally  different. 
Their  respective  areas  of  operation  are  also  determined  by  different 
considerations.  An  Industrial  Council  will  exercise  direct  influence 
only  over  the  organizations  represented  upon  it.  It  will  comprise 
those  employers'  associations  with  common  interests  and  common 
problems;  similarly  its  trade  union  side  will  be  composed  of  repre- 
sentatives of  organizations  whose  interests  are  directly  interde- 
pendent. An  Industrial  Council  therefore  is  representative  of  or- 
ganizations whose  objects  and  interests,  whilst  not  identical,  are 
sufficiently  interlocked  to  render  common  action  desirable.  The 
various  organizations  represent  the  interests  of  employers  and  work- 
ers engaged  in  the  production  of  a  particular  commodity  or  service 
(or  an  allied  group  of  commodities  or  services). 

A  Trade  Board,  on  the  other  hand,  is  not  based  on  existing  or- 
ganizations of  employers  and  employed,  but  covers  the  whole  of  the 
trade  for  which  it  is  established.  As  the  minimum  rates  are  en- 
forceable by  law,  it  is  necessary  that  the  boundaries  of  the  trade 
should  be  precisely  defined ;  this  is  done,  within  the  limits  prescribed 
by  statute,  by  the  Regulations  made  by  the  Minister  of  Labor. 
Natural  divisions  of  industry  are,  of  course,  followed  as  far  as 
possible,  but  in  many  cases  the  line  of  demarcation  must  necessarily 
be  somewhat  arbitrary.  In  the  case  of  Industrial  Councils  difficult 
demarcation  problems  also  arise,  but  the  considerations  involved  axe 


APPENDIX  G  453 

somewhat  different,  as  the  object  is  to  determine  whether  the  in- 
terests represented  by  given  organizations  are  sufficiently  allied  to 
justify  the  cooperation  of  these  organizations  in  one  Industrial 
Council. 

4.  The  reports  received  from  those  who  are  engaged  in  assisting 
the  formation  of  Joint  Industrial  Councils  show  that  certain  para- 
graphs in  the  Second  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Relations  between 
Employers  and  Employed  have  caused  some  confusion  as  to  the 
character  and  scope  of  Joint  Industrial  Councils  and  Trade  Boards 
respectively.  It  is  essential  to  the  future  development  of  Joint  In- 
dustrial Councils  that  their  distinctive  aim  and  character  should  be 
maintained.  It  is  necessary  therefore  to  keep  clearly  in  mind  the 
respective  functions  of  the  Joint  Industrial  Council  and  the  Trade 
Board,  in  considering  the  recommendations  contained  in  the  follow- 
ing paragraphs  of  the  Second  Report : — 

(a)  Paragraphs  3,  4  and  5,  dealing  with  the  division  of  Joint 
Industrial  Councils  into  those  that  cover  Group  A.  indus- 
tries, and  those  that  cover  Group  B.  industries. 

(6)  Paragraph  7,  dealing  with  district  Industrial  Councils  in 
industries  where  no  National  Council  exists. 

(c)  Paragraphs  10,  13,  15  and  16,  dealing  with  Trade  Boards  in 

relation  to  Joint  Industrial  Councils. 

(d)  Paragraphs  11  and  12,  dealing  with  Trade  Boards  in  indus- 

tries which  are  not  suitably  organized  for  the  establishment 
of  a  Joint  Industrial  Council. 

5.  Distinction  drawn  between  Joint  Industrial  Councils  in  Group 
A.  Industries  and  Group  B.  Industries. — In  paragraph  9  of  the 
Second  Report  it  is  implied  that  the  Ministry  of  Labor  would  de- 
termine whether  the  standard  of  organization  in  any  given  industry 
has  reached  such  a  stage  as  to  justify  the  official  recognition  of  a 
Joint  Industrial  Council  in  that  industry.  It  is  clear,  however,  that 
it  would  be  impossible  for  the  Ministry  to  discover  any  satisfactory 
basis  for  distinguishing  between  an  industry  which  falls  into  Group 
A.,  and  one  which  falls  into  Group  B.  It  is  admitted  in  paragraph 
9  of  the  Second  Report,  that  no  arbitrary  standard  of  organization 
could  be  adopted,  and  it  would  be  both  invidious  and  impracticable 
for  the  Ministry  of  Labor,  upon  whom  the  responsibility  would  fall, 
to  draw  a  distinction  between  A.  and  B.  Industries.  The  only  clear 
distinction  is  between  industries  which  are  sufficiently  organized  to 
justify  the  formation  of  a  Joint  Industrial  Council  and  those  which 
are  not  sufficiently  organized.  Individual,  cases  must  be  judged 
on  their  merits  after  a  consideration  of  the  scope  and  effectiveness 


464  managemp:nt  and  men 

of  the  organization,  the  complexity  of  the  industry  and  the  wishes 
of  those  concerned. 

The  experience  already  gained  in  connection  with  Joint  Industrial 
Councils  indicates  that  it  would  he  inudvisahle  in  the  case  of  in- 
dustries in  Group  B.  to  adopt  the  proposal  that  "there  should  be 
"appointed  one  or  at  most  two  official  representatives  to  assist  in 
"the  initiation  of  the  Council  and  continue  after  its  establishment 
"to  act  in  an  advisory  capacity  and  serve  as  a  link  with  the  Gov- 
"ernnient."  It  is  fundamental  to  the  idea  of  a  Joint  Industrial 
Council  that  it  is  a  voluntary  body  set  up  by  the  industry  itself, 
acting  as  an  independent  body  and  entirely  free  from  all  State 
control.  Whilst  the  Minister  of  Labor  would  be  willing  to  give 
every  assistance  to  Industrial  Councils,  he  would  prefer  thai  any 
suggestion  of  this  kind  should  come  from  the  industry,  rather  than 
from  the  Ministry. 

The  main  idea  of  the  Joint  Industrial  Council  as  a  Joint  Body 
representative  of  an  industry  and  independent  of  State  control  has 
now  become  familiar,  and  the  introduction  of  a  second  type  of  Joint 
Industrial  Council  for  B.  industries  would  be  likely  to  cause  con- 
fusion and  possibly  to  prejudice  the  future  growth  of  Joint  Indus- 
trial Councils. 

In  view  of  these  circumstances,  therefore,  it  has  been  decided  to 
adopt  a  single  type  of  Industrial  Council. 

6.  District  Industrial  Councils. — Paragraph  7  of  the  Second  Re- 
port suggests  that  in  certain  industries  in  which  a  National  Indus- 
trial Council  is  not  likely  to  be  formed,  in  the  immediate  future,  it 
might  none  the  less  be  possible  to  form  one  or  more  "District"  In- 
dustrial Councils. 

In  certain  cases  the  formation  of  joint  bodies  covering  a  limited 
area  is  probable.  It  would,  however,  avoid  confusion  if  the  term 
"District"  were  not  part  of  the  title  of  such  Councils,  and  if  the 
use  of  it  were  confined  to  District  Councils  in  an  industrj^  where  a 
National  Council  exists.  Independent  local  Councils  might  well  have 
a  territorial  designation  instead. 

7.  Trade  Boards  in  Relation  to  Joint  Industrial  Councils. — The 
distinction  between  Trade  Boards  and  Joint  Industrial  Councils  has 
been  set  forth  in  paragraph  3  above.  The  question  whether  an  In- 
dustrial Council  should  be  formed  for  a  given  industry  depends  on 
the  degree  of  organization  achieved  by  the  employers  and  workers 
in  the  industry,  whereas  the  question  whether  a  Trade  Board  should 
be  established  depends  primarily  on  the  rates  of  wages  prevailing 
in  the  industry  or  in  any  part  of  the  industry.  This  distinction 
makes  it  clear  that  the  question  whether  a  Trade  Board  should  or 


APPENDIX  G  455 

should  not  be  set  up  by  the  Minister  of  Labor  for  a  given  industry 
must  be  decided  aj^art  from  the  question  whether  a  Joint  Industrial 
Council  should  or  should  not  be  recognized  in  that  industry  by 
the  Minister  of  Labor. 

It  follows  from  this  that  it  is  possible  that  both  a  Joint  Indus- 
trial Council  and  a  Trade  Board  may  be  necessary  within  the  same 
industry. 

In  highly  organized  industries  the  rates  of  wages  prevailing  will 
not,  as  a  rule,  be  so  low  as  to  necessitate  the  establishment  of  a 
Trade  Board.  In  some  cases,  however,  a  well-defined  section  of  an 
otherwise  well-organized  industry  or  group  of  industries  may  be 
unorganized  and  ill-paid;  in  such  a  case  it  would  clearly  be  desirable 
for  a  Trade  Board  to  be  established  for  the  ill-paid  section,  while 
there  should  at  the  same  time  be  an  Industrial  Council  for  the  re- 
maining sections,  or  even  for  the  whole,  of  the  industry  or  industrial 
group. 

In  the  case  of  other  industries  sufficiently  organized  to  justify  the 
establishment  of  an  Industrial  Council,  the  organizations  repre- 
sented on  the  Council  may  nevertheless  not  be  comprehensive  enough 
to  regulate  wages  effectively  throughout  the  industry.  In  such 
eases  a  Trade  Board  for  the  whole  industry  may  possibly  be  needed. 

Where  a  Trade  Board  covers  either  the  whole  or  part  of  an  in- 
dustry covered  by  a  Joint  Industrial  Council,  the  relations  between 
them  may,  in  order  to  avoid  any  confusion  or  misunderstanding,  be 
defined  as  follows: — 

(1)  Where  Government  Departments  wish  to  consult  the  industry, 

the  Joint  Industrial  Council,  and  not  the  Trade  Board,  will 
be  recognized  as  the  body  to  be  consulted. 

(2)  In  order  to  make  use  of  the  experience  of  the  Trade  Board, 

the  constitution  of  the  Industrial  Council  should  be  so 
drawn  as  to  make  full  provision  for  consultation  between 
the  Council  and  the  Trade  Board  on  matters  referred  to  the 
former  by  a  Government  Department,  and  to  allow  of  the 
representation  of  the  Trade  Board  on  any  Sub-Committee 
of  the  Council  dealing  with  questions  with  which  the  Trade 
Board  is  concerned. 

(3)  The  Joint  Industrial  Council  clearly  cannot  under  any  cir- 

cumstances over-ride  the  statutory  powers  conferred  upon 
the  Trade  Board,  and  if  the  Government  at  any  future 
time  adopted  the  suggestion  contained  in  Section  21  of  the 
First  Report  that  the  sanction  of  law  should  be  given  on 
the  application  of  an  Industrial  Council  to  agreements  made 
by  the  Council,  such  agreements  could  not  be  made  binding 


466  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

on  any  part  of  a  trade  governed  by  a  Trade  Board,  so  far 
as  the  statutory  powers  of  the  Trade  Board  are  concerned. 

The  Minister  of  Labor  will  not  ordinarily  set  up  a  Trade  Board 
to  deal  with  an  industry  or  brunch  of  an  industry,  in  which  the 
majority  of  employers  and  workpeople  are  covered  by  wiige  agree- 
ments, but  in  which  a  minority,  possibly  in  certain  areas,  are  out- 
side the  agreement.  It  would  appear  that  the  proposal  in  Section 
21  of  the  First  Report  was  specially  designed  to  meet  such  cases. 
Experience  has  shown  that  there  are  great  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
establishing  a  Trade  Board  for  one  area  only  in  which  an  industry 
is  carried  on,  without  covering  the  whole  of  a  Trade,  thougli  the 
Trade  Boards  Act  allows  of  this  procedure. 

8.  Trade  Boards  in  industries  which  are  not  sufficiently  organized 
for  the  establishment  of  a  Joint  Industrial  Council. — Section  3  of 
the  Trade  Boards  Act,  1909,  provides  that  "a  Trade  Board  for  any 
"trade  shall  consider,  as  occasion  requires,  any  matter  referred  to 
"them  by  a  Secretary  of  State,  the  Board  of  Trade,  or  any  other 
"Government  Department,  with  reference  to  the  industrial  condi- 
"tions  of  the  trade,  and  shall  make  a  report  upon  the  matter  to  the 
"department  by  whom  the  question  has  been  referred." 

In  the  case  of  an  industry  in  which  a  Trade  Board  has  been 
established,  but  an  Industrial  Council  has  not  been  formed,  the 
Trade  Board  is  the  only  body  that  can  claim  to  be  representative 
of  the  industry  as  a  whole. 

It  is  already  under  a  statutory  obligation  to  consider  questions 
referred  to  it  by  a  Government  Department;  and  w'here  there  is  a 
Trade  Board  but  no  Industrial  Council  in  an  industry  it  will  be 
suggested  to  Government  Departments  that  they  should  consult  the 
Trade  Board  as  occasion  requires  in  the  same  manner  as  they  would 
consult  Industrial  Councils. 

On  the  other  hand,  for  the  reasons  which  have  been  fully  set  out 
above.  Industrial  Councils  must  be  kept  distinct  from  Trade  Boards, 
and  the  latter,  owing  to  their  constitution,  cannot  be  converted  into 
the  former.  If  an  industry  in  which  a  Trade  Board  is  established 
becomes  sufficiently  organized  for  tlie  formation  of  an  Industrial 
Council,  the  Council  would  have  to  be  formed  on  quite  different  lines 
from  the  Trade  Board,  and  the  initiative  should  come,  not  from  the 
Trade  Board,  which  is  a  body  mainly  nominated  by  the  Minister  of 
Labor,  but  from  the  organizations  in  the  industry.  Hence  it  would 
not  be  desirable  that  Trade  Boards  should  undertake  the  formation 
of  schemes  for  Industrial  Councils. 

7th  June,  1918. 


APPENDIX  G  457 

Second  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Relations  between  Employers 
and  Employed  on  Joint  Standing  Industrial  Councils: 


The  Committee  consisted  of  tlie  following  members: — 

The  Right  Hon.  J.  H.  Whitley,  M.P.,  Chairman 
(Chairman  of  Committee,   House  of  Commons). 

Mr.  F.  S.  Button.  Miss  Susan  Lawrence. 

Sir  George  J.  Carter,  K.B.E.  i  Sir  Maurice  Levy,  Bart,  M.P. 

Prof.  S.  J.  Chapman,  C.B.E.  Mr.  J.  J.  Mallon. 

Sir  Gilbert  Claughton,  Bart.  Sir   Thos.    R.    Rateliffe-EUis. 

Mr.  J.  R.  Clynes,  M.P.  Mr.  Robert  M.  SmilUe. 

1  Mr.  P.  N.  Hepworth.  Mr.  Allan  M.  Smith. 

1  Mr.  W.  Hill.  1  Mr.  D.  R.  H.  Williams. 

Mr.  J.  A.  Hobson.  Miss  Mona  Wilson. 

Secretaries  : 

Mr.  H.  J.  Wilson,  C.B.E.,  Ministry  of  Labor. 

Mr.  Arthur  Greenwood,  Ministry  of  Reconstruction. 

To  the  Right  Honorable  D.  Lloyd  George,  M.P.,  Prime  Minister. 

Sir, — Following  the  proposals  made  in  our  first  Report,  we  have 
now  the  honor  to  present  further  recommendations  dealing  with  in- 
dustries in  which  organization  on  the  part  of  employers  and  em- 
ployed is  less  completely  established  than  in  the  industries  covered 
by  the  previous  Report,  and  with  industries  in  which  such  organiza- 
tion is  weak  or  non-existent. 

2.  Before  commencing  the  examination  of  these  industries  the 
Committee  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  would  materially  assist  their 
enquiries  if  they  could  have  the  direct  advantage  of  the  knowledge 
and  experience  of  some  representative  employers  who  were  con- 
nected with  industries  of  the  kind  with  which  the  Committee  were 
about  to  deal ;  and  it  was  arranged,  with  your  approval,  that  Sir 
Maurice  Levy,  Mr.  F.  N.  Hepworth,  Mr.  W.  Hill,  and  Mr.  D.  R.  H. 
Williams  should  be  appointed  to  act  with  the  Committee  while  these 
industries  were  under  consideration.  This  arrangement  made  it 
possible  to  release  from  attendance  at  the  earlier  meetings  of  the 
Committee  Sir  Gilbert  Claughton,  Sir  T.  Rateliffe-Ellis,  Sir  George 
J.  Carter,  and  Mr.  Allan  Smith,  whose  time  is  greatly  occupied  in 

1  Additional  members  of  the  Committee,  appointed  in  connection  with 
the  present  Report. 


458  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

other  puhlie  work  and  whose  experience  is  more  particularly  related 
to  the  organized  trades  covered  by  our  former  Report. 

3.  It  is  difficult  to  classify  industries  according  to  the  degree  of 
organization  among  employers  and  employed,  but  for  convenience 
of  consideration  the  industries  of  the  country  may  be  divided  into 
three  groups : — 

Group  A. — Consisting  of  industries  in  which  organization  on  the 
part  of  employers  and  employed  is  sufficiently  developed 
to  render  their  respective  associations  representative  of  the 
great  majority  of  those  engaged  in  the  industry.  These 
are  the  industries  which  we  had  in  mind  in  our  first  In- 
terim Report. 

Group  B. — Comprising  those  industries  in  whicli,  either  as  regards 
employers  and  employed,  or  both,  the  degree  of  organiza- 
tion, though  considerable,  is  less  marked  than  in  Group  A. 

Group  C. — Consisting  of  industries  in  which  organization  is  so 
imperfect,  either  as  regards  employers  or  employed,  or 
both,  that  no  associations  can  be  said  adequately  to  repre- 
sent those  engaged  in  the  industry. 

The  present  Report  is  concerned  with  Groups  B.  and  C. 

4.  So  far  as  Groups  A.  and  C.  are  concerned,  a  number  of  in- 
dustries can  be  definitely  assigned  to  them.  Group  B..  however, 
is  necessarily  more  indeterminate.  Some  of  the  industries  in  this 
group  approach  closely  to  industries  in  Group  A.,  while  others 
verge  upon  Group  C.  Further,  most  industries,  in  whatever  class 
they  may  fall,  possess  a  "tail,"  consisting  of  badly  organized  areas, 
or  sections  of  the  industry.  These  facts  we  have  borne  in  mind  in 
formulating  our  further  proposals. 

5.  So  far  as  industries  in  Group  B.  are  concerned,  we  are  of 
opinion  that  the  proposals  of  our  First  Report  should,  in  their  main 
lines,  be  applied  to  those  which,  on  examination  by  the  Ministry'  of 
Labor  in  consultation  with  the  Associations  concerned,  are  found  to 
be  relatively  well  organized.  We  suggest,  however,  that  where  in 
these  industries  a  National  Industrial  Council  is  formed  there  should 
be  appointed  one  or  at  most  two  official  representatives  to  assist  in 
the  initiation  of  the  Council,  and  continue  after  its  establishment 
to  act  in  an  advisory  capacity  and  ser\'e  as  a  link  with  the  Gov- 
ernment. We  do  not  contemplate  that  a  representative  so  appointed 
should  be  a  member  of  the  National  Industrial  Council,  in  the  sense 
that  he  should  have  power,  by  a  vote,  to  influence  the  decisions  of 
the  Council,  but  that  he  should  attend  its  meetings  and  assist  in  any 
way  which  may  be  found  acceptable  to  it.  By  so  doing  he  would 
acquire  a  continuous  knowledge  of  the  conditions  of  the  industry 


APPENDIX  G  459 

of  which   the  Government   could   avail  itself,   and  so   avoid   many 
mistakes  that  under  present  conditions  are  inevitable. 

The  question  of  the  retention  of  the  official  representatives  should 
be  considered  by  the  Councils  in  the  light  of  experience  gained  when 
an  adequate  time  has  elapsed.  We  anticipate  that  in  many  cases 
their  continued  assistance  will  be  found  of  value  even  after  an  in- 
dustry has  attained  a  high  degree  of  organization,  but  in  no  case 
should  they  remain  except  at  the  express  wish  of  the  Councils  con- 
cerned. 

6.  It  may  be  that  in  some  Group  B.  industries  in  which  a  Na- 
tional Industrial  Council  is  formed  certain  areas  are  well  suited  to 
the  establishment  of  District  Councils,  while  in  other  areas  the 
organization  of  employers  or  employed,  or  both,  is  too  weak  to  be 
deemed  representative.  There  appears  to  be  no  good  reason  why 
in  the  former  areas  there  should  not  be  District  Industrial  Councils, 
acting  in  conjunction  with  the  National  Industrial  Councils,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  principles  formulated  in  the  Committee's  earlier 
report  on  the  well-organized  trades. 

7.  An  examination  of  some  of  the  industries  coming  within 
Group  B.  may  show  that  there  are  some  which,  owing  to  the  pe- 
culiarities of  the  trades  and  their  geographical  distribution,  cannot 
at  present  be  brought  readily  within  the  scope  of  the  proposals  for 
a  National  Industrial  Council,  though  they  may  be  quite  well  or- 
ganized in  two  or  more  separate  districts.  In  such  a  ease  we  think 
there  might  well  be  formed  one  or  more  District  Industrial  Coun- 
cils. We  anticipate  that  in  course  of  time  the  influence  of  the  Dis- 
trict Councils  would  be  such  that  the  industry'  would  become  suitable 
for  the  establishment  of  a  National  Industrial  Council. 

8.  In  the  case  of  industries  in  Group  B.  (as  in  the  industries 
covered  by  our  first  Report),  we  consider  that  the  members  of  the 
National  Councils  and  of  the  District  Councils  should  be  representa- 
tive of  the  Employers'  Associations  and  Trade  Unions  concerned. 
In  the  formation  of  the  Councils,  regard  should  be  paid  to  the 
various  sections  of  the  industry  and  the  various  classes  of  labor 
engaged,  and  the  representatives  should  include  representatives 
of  women's  organizations.  In  view  of  the  extent  to  which  women 
are  employed  in  these  industries,  we  think  the  Trade  Unions,  wlien 
selecting  their  representatives  for  the  Councils,  should  include  a 
number  of  women  among  those  who  are  appointed  to  be  members. 

9.  It  does  not  appear  to  us  necessary  or  desirable  to  suggest  any 
fixed  standard  of  organization  which  should  exist  in  any  industry 
before  a  National  Industrial  Council  should  be  established.  The 
case  of  each  industry  will  need  to  be  considered  separately,  regard 


460  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

being  paid  to  its  particular  circumstances  and  characteristics. 

In  the  discussion  of  this  matter,  we  have  considered  whether  it 
would  be  feasible  to  indicate  a  percentage  of  organization  which 
should  be  reached  before  a  Council  is  formed,  but,  in  view  of  the 
great  diversity  of  circumstances  in  these  industries  and  of  the  dif- 
fering degrees  to  which  the  several  sections  of  some  of  them  are 
organized,  we  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  more  desirable 
to  leave  the  matter  to  the  decision  of  the  Ministry  of  Labor  and  the 
organizations  concerned.  Whatever  theoretical  standard  may  be 
contemplated,  we  think  its  application  should  not  be  restrictive  in 
either  direction. 

10.  The  level  of  organization  in  industries  in  Group  C.  is  such  as 
to  make  the  scheme  we  have  proposed  for  National  or  District  In- 
dustrial Councils  inapplicable.  To  these  industries  the  machinery  of 
the  Trade  Boards  Act  might  well  be  applied,  pending  the  develop- 
ment of  such  degree  of  organization  as  would  render  feasible  the 
establishment  of  a  National  Council  or  District  Councils. 

11.  The  Trade  Boards  Act  was  originally  intended  to  secure  the 
establishment  of  a  minimum  standard  of  wages  in  certain  unor- 
ganized industries,  but  we  consider  that  the  Trade  Boards  should 
be  regarded  also  as  a  means  of  supplying  a  regular  machinerj^  for  ne- 
gotiation and  decision  on  certain  groups  of  questions  dealt  with 
in  other  circumstances  by  collective  bargaining  between  employers* 
organizations  and  trade  unions. 

In  order  that  the  Trade  Boards  Act  may  be  of  greater  utility  in 
connection  with  unorganized  and  badly  organized  industries  or  sec- 
tions of  industries,  we  consider  that  certain  modifications  are  needed 
to  enlarge  the  functions  of  the  Trade  Boards.  We  suggest  that  they 
should  be  empowered  to  deal  not  only  with  minimum  rates  of  wages 
but  with  hours  of  labor  and  questions  cognate  to  wages  and  hours. 
W^e  are  of  opinion  also  that  the  functions  of  the  Trade  Boards 
should  be  extended  so  as  to  enable  them  to  initiate  and  conduct 
enquiries  on  all  matters  affecting  the  industry  or  the  section  of  the 
industry  concerned. 

12.  If  these  proposals  were  adopted,  there  would  be  set  up,  in 
a  number  of  industries  or  sections  of  industries.  Trade  Boards  (con- 
sisting of  representatives  of  employers  and  employed,  together  with 
"appointed  members")  who  would,  within  the  scope  of  their  func- 
tions, establish  minimum  standard  rates  and  conditions  applicable 
to  the  industry  or  section  of  the  industry  which  they  represented, 
and  consider  systematically  matters  affecting  the  well-being  of  the 
industry. 

13.  Where  an  industry  in  Group  C.  becomes  sufficiently  organ- 


APPENDIX  G  461 

ized  to  admit  of  the  institution  of  National  and  District  Councils, 
we  consider  that  these  bodies  should  be  set  up  on  the  lines  already 
indicated.  Where  it  appears  to  a  Trade  Board  that  an  Industrial 
Council  should  be  appointed  in  the  industry  concerned,  they  should 
have  power  (a)  to  make  application  to  the  Minister  of  Labor  asking 
him  to  approach  the  organizations  of  employers  and  employed,  and 
(5)  to  suggest  a  scheme  by  which  the  representation  of  the  workers' 
and  employers'  sides  of  the  Trade  Board  could  be  secured. 

14.  Whether  in  industries  in  Group  C.  the  establishment  of  Works 
Committees  is  to  be  recommended  is  a  question  which  calls  for  very 
careful  examination,  and  we  have  made  the  general  question  of 
Works  Committees  the  subject  of  a  separate  Report. 

15.  We  have  already  pointed  out  that  most  of  the  industries  in 
Groups  A.  and  B.  have  sections  or  areas  in  which  the  degree  of  or- 
ganization among  the  employers  and  employed  falls  much  below 
what  is  normal  in  the  rest  of  the  industry;  and  it  appears  to  us 
desirable  that  the  general  body  of  employers  and  employed  in  any 
industry  should  have  some  means  whereby  they  may  bring  the  whole 
of  the  trade  up  to  the  standard  of  minimum  conditions  which  have 
been  agreed  u^Don  by  a  substantial  majority  of  the  industry.  We 
therefore  recommend  that,  on  the  application  of  a  National  Industrial 
Council  sufficiently  representative  of  an  industry,  the  Minister  of 
Labor  should  be  empowered,  if  satisfied  that  the  case  is  a  suitable 
one,  to  make  an  Order  either  instituting  for  a  section  of  the  industry 
a  Trade  Board  on  which  the  National  Industrial  Council  should  be 
represented,  or  constituting  the  Industrial  Council  a  Trade  Board 
under  the  provisions  of  the  Trade  Boards  Act.  These  proposals  are 
not  intended  to  limit,  but  to  be  in  addition  to,  the  powers  at  present 
held  by  the  Ministry  of  Labor  with  regard  to  the  establishment  of 
Trade  Boards  in  trades  and  industries  where  they  are  considered  by 
the  Ministry  to  be  necessary. 

16.  We  have  already  indicated  (paragraph  9)  that  the  circum- 
stances and  characteristics  of  each  of  the  several  industries  will 
need  to  be  considered  before  it  can  be  decided  definitely  how  far  any 
of  our  proposals  can  be  applied  in  particular  instances,  and  we  have 
refrained  from  attempting  to  suggest  any  exact  degree  of  organiza- 
tion which  would  be  requisite  before  a  particular  proposal  could  be 
applied.  We  think,  however,  that  the  suggestion  we  have  made  in 
the  preceding  paragraph  to  confer  upon  a  National  Industrial  Coun- 
cil the  powers  of  a  Trade  Board  should  be  adopted  only  in  those 
eases  in  which  the  Minister  of  Labor  is  satisfied  that  the  Council 
represents  a  substantial  majority  of  the  industry  concerned. 

17.  We  are  of  opinion  that  most  of  the  chief  industries  of  the 


462  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

country  could  be  brought  under  one  or  other  oi'  the  schemes  con- 
tained in  tliis  and  the  preceding  Report.  There  would  then  be 
broadly  two  classes  of  industries  in  the  country — industries  with  In- 
dustrial Councils  and  industries  with  Trade  Boards. 

18.  In  the  i'ormer  group  the  National  Industrial  Councils  would 
be  constituted  either  in  the  manner  we  have  indicated  in  our  first 
Report,  carrying  with  them  District  Councils  and  Works  Committees, 
or  on  the  lines  suggested  in  the  present  Report,  i.e.,  each  Council 
coming  within  the  scope  of  this  Report  having  associated  with  it 
one,  or  two,  official  representatives  to  act  in  an  advisory  capacity 
and  as  a  link  with  the  Government,  in  addition  to  the  representatives 
of  the  employers  and  employed. 

19.  It  should  be  noted  that  in  the  case  of  industries  in  which  there 
is  a  National  Industrial  Council,  Trade  Boards  might,  in  some 
instances,  be  associated  with  the  Council  in  order  to  determine 
wages  and  hours,  &c.,  in  certain  sections  or  areas.  It  is  possible 
that  in  some  allied  trades,  really  forming  part  of  the  same  indus- 
try, both  sets  of  proposals  miglit,  in  the  first  instance,  be  in  opera- 
tion side  by  side,  one  trade  having  its  Industrial  Council  and  the 
other  its  Trade  Board.  Where  these  circumstances  obtain,  we  an- 
ticipate that  the  Trade  Board  would  be  a  stepping  stone  to  the  full 
Industrial  Council  status. 

20.  It  may  be  useful  to  present  a  brief  outline  of  the  proposals 
which  we  have  so  far  put  forward : — 

(a)  In  the  more  highly  organized  industries  (Group  A.)  we  pro- 
pose a  triple  organization  of  national,  district,  and  work- 
shop bodies,  as  outlined  in  our  first  Report. 

(6)  In  industries  where  there  are  representative  associations  of 
employers  and  employed,  which,  however,  do  not  possess 
the  authority  of  those  in  Group  A.  industries,  we  propose 
that  the  triple  organization  should  be  modified  by  attaching 
to  each  National  Industrial  Council  one  or  at  most  two  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Ministry  of  Labor  to  act  in  an  advisory 
capacity. 

(c)  In  industries  in  both  Groups  A.  and  B.,  we  propose  that  un- 

organized areas  or  branches  of  an  industry'  should  be  pro- 
vided, on  the  application  of  the  National  Industrial  Council 
and  with  the  approval  of  the  Ministry  of  Labor,  with  Trade 
Boards  for  such  areas  or  branches,  the  Trade  Boards  being 
linked  with  the  Industrial  Council. 

(d)  In  industries  having  no  adequate  organization  of  employers  or 

employed,  we  recommend  that  Trade  Boards  should  be  con- 
tinued or  established,   and  that   these  should,   with  the   ap- 


APPENDIX  G  463 

proval  of  the  Ministry  of  Labor,  be  enabled  to  formulate  a 
scheme  for  an  Industrial  Council,  which  might  include  in  an 
advisory  capacity  the  "appointed  members"  of  the  Trade 
Board. 

21.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  policy  we  recommend  is  based 
upon  organization  on  the  part  of  both  employers  and  employed. 
Where  this  is  adequate,  as  in  Group  A.  industries,  there  is  no  need 
of  external  assistance.  In  Group  B.  industries,  we  think  that  the 
organizations  concerned  would  be  glad  to  have  the  services  of  an 
official  representative  who  would  act  as  adviser  and  as  a  link  with  the 
Government.  In  unorganized  sections  of  both  groups  of  industries 
Ave  believe  that  a  larger  measure  of  Government  assistance  will  be 
both  desirable  and  acceptable,  and  we  have  therefore  suggested  the 
adoption  of  the  machinery  of  the  Trade  Boards  Act  in  this  connec- 
tion. In  Group  C.  industries  we  think  that  organization  will  be 
encouraged  by  the  use  of  the  powers  under  the  Trade  Boards  Act, 
and  where  National  Industrial  Councils  are  set  up  we  recommend 
that  the  "apjiointed  members"  of  the  Trade  Board  should  act 
on  the  Councils  in  an  advisory  capacity.  Briefly,  our  proposals  are 
that  the  extent  of  State  assistance  should  vary  inversely  with  the 
degree  of  organization  in  industries. 

22.  We  do  not,  however,  regard  Government  assistance  as  an  al- 
ternative to  the  organization  of  employers  and  employed.  On  the 
contrary,  we  regard  it  as  a  means  of  furthering  the  growth  and 
development  of  such  organization. 

23.  We  think  it  advisable  in  this  connection  to  repeat  the  follow- 
ing paragraph  from  our  former  Report: — 

"It  may  be  desirable  to  state  here  our  considered  opinion  that 
an  essential  condition  of  securing  a  permanent  improvement  in 
the  relations  between  employers  and  employed  is  that  there  should 
be  adequate  organization  on  the  part  of  both  employers  and 
workpeople.  The  proposals  outlined  for  joint  cooperation 
throughout  the  several  industries  depend  for  their  ultimate  suc- 
cess upon  there  being  such  organization  on  both  sides;  and  such 
organization  is  necessary  also  to  provide  means  whereby  the  ar- 
rangements and  agreements  made  for  the  industry  may  be  ef- 
fectively carried  out." 

24.  In  considering  the  scope  of  the  matters  referred  to  us  we 
have  formed  the  opinion  that  the  expression  "employers  and  work- 
men" in  our  reference  covers  State  and  Municipal  authorities  and 
persons  employed  by  them.  Accordingly  we  recommend  that  such 
authorities  and  their  workpeople  should  take  into  consideration  the 
proposals  made  in  this  and  in  our  first  Report,  with  a  view  to  de- 


464  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

termining  how  far  such  ])ropo8al3  can  suitably  be  adopted  in  their 
case. 

We  understand  that  the  Ministry  oi"  Labor  has  up  to  the  present 
circulated  our  first  Report  only  to  employers'  and  workpeople's  as- 
sociations in  the  ordinary  private  industries.  We  think,  however, 
that  both  it  and  the  present  Report  should  also  be  brought  to  the 
notice  of  State  Departments  and  Municipal  Authorities  employing 
labor. 

25.  The  proposals  we  have  set  forth  above  do  not  require  legisla- 
tion except  on  three  points,  namely,  to  provide — 

(1)  That  the   Trade   Boards  shall   have   power,   in   addition   to  de- 

termining minimum  rates  of  wages,  to  deal  with  hours  of 
labor  and  questions  cognate  to  wages  and  hours. 

(2)  That  the  Trade  Boards  shall  have  power  to  initiate  enquiries, 

and  make  proposals  to  the  Government  Departments  con- 
cerned, on  matters  affecting  the  industrial  conditions  of  the 
trade,  as  well  as  on  questions  of  general  interest  to  the  in- 
dustries concerned  respectively. 

(3)  That  when  an  Industrial  Council  sufficiently  representative  of 

an  industry  makes  application,  the  Minister  of  Labor  shall 
have  power,  if  satisfied  that  the  case  is  a  suitable  one,  to 
make  an  Order  instituting  for  a  section  of  the  industry  a 
Trade  Board  on  which  the  Industrial  Council  shall  be  repre- 
sented, or  constituting  the  Council  a  Trade  Board  under  the 
Trade  Boards  Act. 

26.  The  proposals  which  we  have  made  must  necessarily  be 
adapted  to  meet  the  varying  needs  and  circumstances  of  different 
industries,  and  it  is  not  anticipated  that  there  will  be  uniformity  in 
practice.  Our  recommendations  are  intended  merely  to  set  forth 
the  main  lines  of  development  which  we  believe  to  be  essential  to 
ensure  better  relations  between  employers  and  employed.  Their 
application  to  the  several  industries  we  can  safely  leave  to  those 
intimately  concerned,  with  the  conviction  that  the  flexibility  and 
adaptability  of  industrial  organization  which  have  been  so  large  a 
factor  in  enabling  industry  to  stand  the  enormous  strain  of  the  war 
will  not  fail  the  country  when  peace  returns. 

27.  Other  problems  affecting  the  relations  between  employers  and 
employed  are  engaging  our  attention,  but  we  believe  that,  whatever 
further  steps  may  be  necessary  to  accomplish  the  object  we  have  in 
view,  the  lines  of  development  suggested  in  the  present  Report  and 
the  one  which  preceded  it  are  fundamental.  We  believe  that  in  each 
industry  there  is  a  suflBciently  large  body  of  opinion  willing  to  adopt 


APPENDIX  G  465 

the  proposals  we  have  made  as  a  means  of  establishing  a  new  rela- 
tion in  industry. 

We  have  the  honor  to  be,  Sir, 
Your  obedient  Servants,^ 

J.  H.  Whitley,  Chairman. 

F.  S.  Button, 
S.  J.  Chapman. 

G.  H.  Claughton. 
J.  R.  Clynes. 

F.  N.  Hepvs^orth. 

Wilfrid  Hill. 

j.  a.  hobson. 

H.  J.  Wilson,    1  „        ^     . 
.    ^  y  Secretaries. 

A.  Greenwood,/ 

A.  Susan  Lawrence. 

Maurice  Levy. 

J.  J.  Mallon. 

Thos.  R.  Ratcliffe-Ellis. 

Allan  M.  Smith. 

D.  R.  H.  Williams. 

MoNA  Wilson. 

18th  October,  1917. 

1  Sir  G.  J.  Carter  and  Mr.  Smillie  were  unable  to  attend  any  of  the 
meetings  at  which  this  Report  was  considered,  and  they  therefore  do 
not  sign  it. 


i 


APPENDIX  H 

THE  PREDECESSOR  OF  THE  WHITLEY  SCHEME 

A   MEMORANDUM   ON   INDUSTRIAL   SELF-GOVERNMENT 

Together  with  a  Draft  Scheme  for  a  Builders' 

National  Industrial  Parliament 

Prepared  by  request  of  J.  H.  "Whitley,  M.P. 

By  Malcolm  Sparkes 

INDUSTRIAL  SELF-GOVERNMENT 

Tliis  memorandum  is  an  attempt  to  set  out  in  detail  the  considera- 
tions that  have  led  me  to  advocate  the  setting  up  of  National  In- 
dustrial Parliaments  in  our  staple  industries,  as  a  contribution  to- 
wards the  solution  of  some  of  the  most  urgent  problems  that  con- 
front the  country  at  this  time. 

The  examination  falls  naturally  into  two  sections: — 

(a)  The  needs  of  the  industrial  situation. 

(b)  The  congestion  of  the  parliamentary  machine. 

The  scheme  was  originally  drawn  up  for  the  Building  Industry, 
in  a  branch  of  which  I  have  been  engaged  for  many  years,  as  an 
employer.  But  it  has  always  been  clear  to  me  that  if  the  principles 
are  sound  they  must  be  equally  applicable  to  most  of  our  staple 
industries. 

A. — The  Needs  op  the  Industrial  Situation 
It  was  the  amazing  futility  of  that  struggle,  involving,  as  it  did, 
many  employers  who,  like  ourselves,  had  no  quarrel  whatever  with 
their  opponents,  that  finally  riveted  my  attention  firmly  upon  the 
extreme  urgency  of  the  j^roblem  and  the  necessity  of  trying  to  find 
a  solution  that  would  be  big  enough  to  break  through  the  old  barriers 
of  hostility  and  suspicion  and  carry  all  before  it. 

Whilst  the  complete  elimination  of  conflict  may  as  yet  be  quite 
impossible,  the  hope  of  the  future  undoubtedly  lies  in  the  intimate 
and  continuous  association  of  both  Management  and  Labor,  not  for 

466 


APPENDIX  H  467 

the  negative  purpose  of  adjusting  differences,  but  for  the  positive 
purpose  of  promoting  the  progressive  and  continuous  improvement 
of  their  industrial  service,  from  which  alone  the  national  prosperity 
can  be  derived. 

Industrial  Peace  must  come,  not  as  the  result  of  the  balance  of 
power  with  a  supreme  Court  of  Appeal  in  the  background.  It 
must  emerge  as  the  inevitable  by-product  of  mutual  confidence,  real 
justice,  constructive  goodwill.  Industry  needs  no  truce,  no  com- 
pulsory arbitration,  no  provision  for  the  postponement  of  disputes. 

What  it  needs  is  confidence  and  a  courageous  forward  movement 
supported  by  the  constructive  genius  of  both  sides  in  common  council. 

The  task  of  Industrial  Reconstruction  is  one  of  the  most  stupen- 
dous that  our  country  has  ever  had  to  face.  It  was  just  that  fact 
with  its  tremendous  challenge  to  the  best  in  every  one  of  us,  that 
led  me  to  the  conviction  that  proposals,  at  first  sight  Utopian, 
could  after  all  be  successfully  applied  in  the  reorganization  of  our 
industrial  life  to-day. 

We  built  the  old  order  upon  the  basis  of  opposed  interests.  I 
believed  that  the  common  interests  of  industry  would  prove  to  be 
wider  and  more  fundamental  than  those  which  were  still  admittedly 
opposed;  and  that  upon  these  common  interests  the  fabric  of  the 
new  industrial  order  might  be  confidently  raised. 


THE  SCHEME 

The  National  Executives  of  the  Trade  Unions  in  the  industry 
should  invite  the  National  Employers'  Federation  to  cooperate  with 
them  in  setting  up  a  National  Industrial  Parliament,  representing 
Management  and  Labor  in  equal  numbers. 

The  object  of  this  body  would  be  "to  promote  the  continuous  and 
progressive  improvement  of  the  industry,  to  realize  its  organic  unity 
as  a  great  national  service,  and  to  advance  the  well-being  and  status 
of  its  personnel." 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  is  a  definite  attempt  to  break  down  the 
long  established  barriers,  to  mobilize  for  immediate  active  service 
all  the  goodwill  that  we  know  exists  on  both  sides,  and  to  focus  it 
upon  a  field  of  wise  development  hitlierto  almost  entirely  unexplored. 

The  new  assembly  would  be  constructive  and  nothing  hut  con- 
structive, and  disputes  would  be  completely  excluded  from  its  pro- 
gram. It  would  in  no  way  supersede  the  existing  Employers'  Asso- 
ciations or  Trade  Unions,  nor  would  it  do  away  with  the  Concilia- 
tion Boards,  which  would  still  perform  their  proper  function  in  the 
settling  of  differences  and  disputes. 


468 


MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 


Tho  field  of  action  which  would  be  opened  up  by  the  proposed 
Industrial  Parliament  would,  however,  be  very  great.  One  of  its 
first  steps  would  be  to  set  up  a  number  of  committees,  with  power 
to  coopt  experts,  to  investigate  and  submit  recommendations  upon 
each  of  the  following  important  matters,  for  example: — 

1.  The  Regularization  of  Wages 

To  supersede  the  present  chaotic  confusion  by  the  provision 
of  a  graduated  scale  of  minimum  rates  designed  to  keep  REAL 
wages  in  the  industry  as  nearly  as  possible  on  a  level  throughout 
the  country. 

A  brief  explanation  is  necessary  to  make  this  proposition  clearer. 
The  present  rates  of  wages  in  the  building  industry  are  extraor- 
dinarily erratic,  as  the  following  table,  taken  from  "The  Builder," 
will  show: — 

WAGE  RATES  IN  THE  BUILDING  INDUSTRY,  SEPTEMBER,  1916. 


o5 

tc 

00 

u 

09 

o 

3 

o 

a- 

-t-> 

B 

C    c 
tr.    = 

11 

cS 

'u 

05 

^ 

o 

'S 

K  "Z 

Jr  « 

—  "5 

:§ 

M 

O  cs 

s 

s 

s 

Ph 

f<:  «-: 

k-^ 

-1-: 

s.  d. 

s.  d. 

s.  d. 

s.  d. 

s.  d. 

s.  d. 

s.  d. 

s.  d. 

s.  d. 

s.  d. 

London. . . 

1  Oi 

1  0^ 

1  Oh 

1  0^ 

1   1 

10 

9 

9 

9 

Crewe     .... 

7i 

8 

n 

9 

8i 

8i 

8 

5i 

H 

6 

Manchester 

11 

11 

11 

11 

10 

11 

10* 

7* 

7i 

7* 

Bedford    .  .  . 

8 

8 

9 

8* 

8 

9 

6* 

5i 

5i 

6 

Liverpool  .  . 

1  0 

1  0 

1   0 

11 

lU 

1  0 

10* 

8 

8 

8 

Taunton  .  .  . 

7 

7 

7 

7 

6 

6* 

4i 

4i 

4i 

Nottingham 

11 

11 

11 

10^ 

10* 

11 

10 

8^ 

8i 

9 

These  seven  examples  are  selected  almost  at  random  from  a  list  of 
over  a  hundred  towns  in  England  and  Wales  alone.  They  are  prob- 
ably sufficient  to  show  my  meaning. 

if  London  is  taken  as  the  standard,  then  Manchester  and  Not- 
tingham are  probably  in  their  proper  ratio;  but  Crewe  is  certainly 
far  too  low,  and  probably  Bedford  and  Taunton  also.  Liverpool, 
on  the  other  hand,  seems  high  as  compared  with  Manchester.  The 
effect  of  this  lack  of  standardization  is  apparent  every  time  that 
a  proposal  for  advance  is  made  by  tlie  Trade  Unions  in  any  given 
district.     The    employers   invariably    reply   that,    although    sympa- 


APPENDIX  H  469 

thetic,  they  are  compelled  to  oppose  the  demand  in  view  of  the  com- 
petition of  districts  not  subject  to  proportionate  advance. 

In  this  way  we  invariably  get  the  minimum  of  result  accompanied 
by  the  maximum  of  friction.  And  there  is  a  further  important 
point.  The  advantage  of  the  migration  of  manufacturing  industries 
from  town  to  country  is  now  generally  recognized.  But  this  benef- 
icent movement  is  being  literally  hampered  by  the  fact  that  workmen 
will  not  transfer  themselves  from  a  highly  paid  district  to  one  where 
the  wages  are  low. 

The  standardizing  of  real  wages  throughout  the  country  would, 
therefore,  greatly  increase  the  mobility  of  labor  and  would  be  of 
vital  importance  in  the  solving  of  the  problem  of  decasualization. 
And  there  would  appear  to  be  no  valid  objection  to  the  principle  of 
the  scheme,  although,  hitherto,  it  has  been  impossible  of  achievement 
owing  to  the  unwillingness  of  local  associations  to  surrender  a  part 
of  their  autonomy. 

Standardization  being  once  accomplished,  all  subsequent  advances 
in  real  wages  would  be  arranged  on  a  national  basis,  and  an  im- 
mense amount  of  friction  would  totally  disappear. 

2.  Prevention  of  Unemployment 
To  devise  measures  for   (a)    the  prevention  of  unemployment, 

with  a  view  to  its  ultimate  abolition,  and  (&)   the  decasualization 

of  Labor,  a  very  important  problem,  which  is  undoubtedly  soluble 

by  scientific  organization. 

In  regard  to  the  former,  there  is  no  doubt  that  some  form  of 
State  assistance  is  essential  if  really  effective  progress  is  to  be  made. 
The  proposals  of  the  National  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Council 
afford  a  model  of  the  kind  of  thing  that  might  be  developed.  Prob- 
ably some  of  the  recommendations  of  the  Minority  Report  of  the 
Poor  Law  Commission  (Unemployment  section)  would  also  be 
adaptable. 

Effective  cooperation  between  the  industry  and  the  Labor  Ex- 
changes would  be  another  very  important  factor,  and  would  also  be 
of  invaluable  assistance  during  the  period  of  demobilization. 

3.  Disabled  Soldiers 
To  regulate  the  employment  of  partially  disabled  soldiers  and 
to  ensure  that  the  pensions  granted  by  the  Nation  shall  not  become 
the  means  of  reducing  the  standard  rates  of  wages. 

I  believe  that  unless  this  problem  is  taken  in  hand  scientifically 
it  will  produce  a  vast  amount  of  preventable  ill-feeling  and  conflict, 


470  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

and  this  view  has  boon  invariably  confirmed  by  the  numorous  Trade 
Union  leaders  with  whom  I  have  come  into  contact.  It  is  the  kind 
of  problem  that  can  easily  be  settled  by  the  goodwill  of  the  parties 
concerned,  but  it  is  quite  insoluble  by  tug  of  war. 

The  question  of  training,  although  only  a  temporary  problem, 
presents  possibilities  of  useful  service  in  cooperation  with  the  War 
Pensions,  etc.,  Committees. 

4.  Technical  Training  and  Research 

To  arrange  for  adequate  technical  training  for  the  members  of 
the  industrj/;  the  reform  of  "blind  allei/"  Occupations;  the  im- 
provement of  processes,  design,  and  standards  of  workmanship ; 
research,  apprenticeship,  and  the  regulation  of  the  conditions  of 
entry  into  the  trade. 

This  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  promising  and  necessary  depart- 
ments of  the  service,  and  one  which  is  at  present  almost  untouched, 
so  far  as  many  industrial  organizations  are  concerned. 

In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  recommenda- 
tions of  the  Workers'  Educational  Association,  on  Technical  Educa- 
tion, include  a  precisely  similar  proposal,  namely: — 

"(d)  That  technical  schools  should  be  administered  by  a  body 
on  which  employers  and  workpeople  chosen  by  their  respective 
trade  organizations  should  be  equally  represented,  together  with 
members  of  the  Education  Authority,  and  that  there  sliould  be 
special  advisory  committees  of  employers  and  workpeople  for 
special  trades." 

The  "regulation  of  conditions  of  entry"  will  naturally  raise  very 
large  questions  of  Industrial  organization,  both  for  Employers  and 
for  Operatives,  and  amongst  these  questions  the  problem  of  non- 
union labor  will  certainly  take  a  prominent  place. 

5.  Continuous  and  Progressive  Improvement 

To  provide  a  clearing  house  for  ideas,  and  to  investigate,  itt 
conjunction  with  experts,  all  suggested  lines  of  improvement,  in- 
cluding, for  example,  such  questions  as: — 

Industrial  control  and  status  of  Labor. 
Scientific  management  and  increase  of  otitput. 
Welfare  methods  and  schemes  of  education. 
Closer  association  between  industry  and  art. 
The  problems  of  women  in  industry. 
Industrial  health   and  physical   training. 
Prevention  of  accidents,  etc. 


APPENDIX  H  471 

Here  is  another  department  full  of  wonderful  possibilities  of  serv- 
ice. Hitherto  our  leaders  of  progressive  thought  have  had  to  be 
content  to  launch  their  ideas  through  such  media  as  the  Fabian 
Society,  the  periodical  reviews,  the  publishers  and  the  general  press. 
In  this  way  public  opinion  is  undoubtedly  developed,  but  the  notice- 
able effect  upon  the  general  conduct  of  industry  is  comparatively 
small.  But  now,  for  the  first  time  in  industrial  history,  we  should 
have  our  great  staple  industries  setting  up  "Improvements  Com- 
mittees" and  inviting  these  experts  to  communicate  their  ideas  direct 
to  them — for  full  discussion  and  investigation.  It  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  overrate  the  educational  advantages  of  such  a  method,  both 
to  industry  and  to  experts,  and  it  would  certainly  do  much  to  foster 
the  conception  of  industry  as  public  service,  upon  the  full  recognition 
of  which  fact  so  much  depends. 

6.  Publicity 
To  issue  authoritative  information  upon  all  matters  connected 
with  the  work  of  the  Industrial  Parliament  and  the  progress  of 
the  industry  generally. 

The  reports  of  the  various  committees  would  naturally  be  pub- 
lished in  all  the  trade  journals  and  the  general  press,  and  the  In- 
dustrial Parliament  would  thus  be  enabled  to  estimate  the  trend 
of  public  opinion  thereon  before  taking  its  final  decisions. 

In  this  way  the  public  status  of  trade  journals  would  speedily 
be  raised  to  a  very  high  level — as  the  recognized  organs  of  the  new 
industrial  politics.  But  the  publicity  of  the  Press  alone  would  not 
be  sufficient  to  enable  the  Industrial  Parliament  to  render  the  fullest 
service  of  which  it  might  be  capable.  It  would  certainly  be  ad- 
visable to  establish  Joint  District  Boards,  similar  in  constitution  to 
the  Industrial  Parliament  itself,  in  the  various  centers  of  the  In- 
dustry, for  discussion,  criticism  and  suggestion.  In  this  way  we 
should  secure  full  consideration  for  the  special  circumstances  and 
conditions  of  localities,  and  bring  to  bear  upon  the  various  prob- 
lems the  valuable  experience  and  advice  of  the  different  districts. 
A  further  very  useful  function  would  be  discharged  by  the  Works 
Committees,  already  suggested  in  many  quarters,  to  secure  the  co- 
operation of  Management  and  Labor  in  the  discussion  and  improve- 
ment of  working  methods  and  conditions.  They  would  very  natu- 
rally include  on  their  agenda  the  careful  consideration  of  the  va- 
rious proposals  as  they  came  before  the  Industrial  Parliament  and 
the  District  Boards,  and  would  be  able  to  furnish  useful  information, 
criticisms,  and  even  to  originate  suggestions  of  great  value. 


4.72  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Upon  the  general  structure  of  the  Industrial  Parliament  little  need 
be  said  here.  The  details  would  naturally  vary  with  different  in- 
dustries. But  a  word  is  necessary  on  the  subject  of  the  Chairman, 
as  his  position  presents  unique  possibilities  of  invaluable  service. 
His  would  be  the  duty  of  keeping  tlie  discussions  constantly  focussed 
upon  tlicir  objective,  the  continuous  improvement  of  the  industrial 
service.  His  capacity  would,  however,  be  purely  advisor)'  and  he 
would  have  no  casting  vote. 

This  provision  would  effectively  prevent  the  assembly  from  be- 
coming merely  an  enlarged  court  of  arbitration  or  conciliation,  and 
would  do  much  to  produce  that  atmosphere  of  mutual  confidence 
without  which  the  scheme  cannot  succeed.  This  matter  of  real  con- 
fidence is  so  important  that  it  might  be  advisable  to  safeguard  it 
even  further,  at  any  rate  in  the  early  stages,  by  stipulating  that 
the  number  of  representatives  of  Management  and  Labor  voting 
upon  any  measure  should  always  be  equal.  This  arrangement  would 
not  produce  deadlock — except  perhaps  on  very  jcare  occasions.  It 
already  exists  in  the  rules  of  the  Builders'  Conciliation  Boards, 
and  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  features  of  the  conciliation  scheme. 
I  believe  that  the  Industrial  Parliament  would  divide  into  two  main 
groups — those  who  wished  to  go  forward  very  rapidly,  and  those 
who  preferred  more  cautious  progress — but  I  am  convinced  that 
the  line  of  cleavage  would  be  new  and  that  we  should  find  em- 
ployers and  operatives  cooperating  on  both  sides  of  the  House  in- 
stead of  in  two  hostile  camps  as  heretofore. 

The  tangible  results  of  the  work  of  the  Industrial  Parliament 
might  take  shape  in  the  establishment  and  progressive  development 
of  two  codes  of  regulations  or  working  arrangements,  one  com- 
pulsory, the  other  voluntary. 

THE   COMPULSORY   CODE 

In  the  first  instance,  at  any  rate,  this  compulsory  code  would 
not  be  a  very  extensive  one.  It  would  merely  regulate,  for  ex- 
ample : — 

The  minimum  wage, 

The  normal  day. 

Overtime  conditions. 

Traveling  and  lodging  allowances, 

Terms  of  notice  on  discharge, 
and  any  other  matters  that  tend  to  standardize  industrial  practice 
and  upon  which  it  would  be  possible  to  obtain  an  overwhelming 
measure  of  agreement. 

But,  in  order  to  make  it  compulsory,  I  suggested  that   the   In- 


APPENDIX  H  473 

dustrial  Parliament  should  be  empowered  to  submit  these  agreed 
measures  for  approval  by  the  Board  of  Trade  or  a  Ministry  of 
Industry,  and  that  when  sanctioned  in  this  way  they  should  be  en- 
forced by  law  throughout  the  whole  of  the  industry.  This  principle, 
of  course,  is  not  new.  It  came  to  the  front  for  the  first  time  in  this 
country  on  the  occasion  of  the  Transport  Strike  of  1912,  when  Mr. 
Ramsay  Macdonald  embodied  it  in  "a  Bill  to  make  agreements  come 
to  voluntarily  between  employers  and  workmen  in  the  Port  of 
London  legally  enforceable  on  the  whole  trade." 

The  same  proposal  appears  in  the  report  of  the  Industrial  Coun- 
cil under  Sir  George  Askwith,  but  with  anti-strike  conditions  at- 
tached, which,  if  applied  to  the  Industrial  Parliament  scheme,  would 
tend  to  reduce  confidence  and  are  therefore  inadvisable.  A  very 
similar  suggestion  is  also  made  in  the  report  to  the  British  Asso- 
ciation, of  Professor  Kirkaldy's  Committee  on  Industrial  Unrest 
{Labor  Finance  and  the  War,  p.  43).  I  believe  it  would  be  a  most 
valuable  innovation,  for,  by  fixing  a  definite  datum  line  of  mini- 
mum standards  throughout  the  whole  of  an  industry,  it  would  clear 
the  road  for  the  progressive  employers  in  a  way  that  has  never  yet 
been  even  approached. 

The  proposal  is,  however,  not  without  its  dangers,  and  the  grant- 
ing of  Government  sanction  would  have  to  be  subject  to  adequate 
safeguards  for  the  interests  of  the  consumers. 

The  proper  Government  Department  upon  which  this  important 
duty  would  devolve  might  very  well  be  found  in  the  newly  con- 
stituted Ministry  of  Labor.  But  as  the  great  aim  of  the  Industrial 
Parliament  scheme  is  the  realization  of  the  organic  unity  of  industry 
as  a  public  service,  I  would  suggest  that  the  title  Ministry  of  Labor 
might  with  great  advantage  be  expanded  to  Ministry  of  Industry 
as  conveying  the  broader  and  newer  conception.  The  old  title  pre- 
serves the  two  hostile  camps — the  new  one  implies  their  cooperation 
for  a  common  purpose. 

THE   VOLUNTARY    CODE 

The  suggestion  is  that  it  should  always  be  open  to  the  Industrial 
Parliament  to  accept  for  the  voluntary  code  proposals  that  might 
be  quite  impossible  or  Utopian  for  the  compulsory  code.  And  it  is 
in  this  principle  of  organized  voluntaryism  that  I  believe  we  may 
find  the  germ  of  true  industrial  advance.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  the  Improvements  Committee  forms  a  clearing  house  for  the 
investigation  and  presentation  of  ideas  and  suggestions  formulated 
■by  the  best  thinkers  of  the  world.     Some  of  these  schemes  would  be 


4.74.  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

rejected  by  the  Industrial  Parliament  and  some  might  be  accej.ted 
for  the  voluntary  code.  But  the  fact  that  they  were  proposed  for 
voluntary  adoption  only  would  transrorrn  the  whole  tone  of  the  dis- 
cussions. 

It  would  enal)le  the  Parliament,  the  press  and  public  opinion 
at  large,  to  discuss  important  lines  of  advance,  entirely  on  their 
merits  and  without  ulterior  motives,  and  would  tend  gradually 
to  create  a  general  readiness  to  think  out  problems  in  terms  of 
humanity  as  well  as  in  terms  of  materialism. 

The  educational  advantages  of  such  a  system  are  so  obvious 
that  I  need  not  enlarge  upon  them,  except  to  point  out  that  they 
would  undoubtedly  stimulate  progressive  thought  upon  all  ques- 
tions of  social  development,  and  this  would  still  further  accelerate 
the  rate  of  progress. 

If  the  Improvements  Committee  and  the  Voluntary  Code  form 
the  first  two  stages  on  the  road  of  industrial  advance,  the  third 
stage  is  the  Experimental  Year  of  the  progressive  employer — 
undertaken  voluntarily  with  full  publicity  and  published  results. 
The  progressive  employer  is  the  backbone  of  the  scheme.  If 
he  is  a  mere  figment  of  the  imagination,  then  the  scheme  is  largely 
valueless,  but  if  he  does  exist  (and  we  know  he  does),  then  there 
seems  literally  no  limit  to  its  possibilities.  Conceptions  of  the 
team  spirit  in  industry  and  of  its  organic  unity  in  the  public 
service  would  gradually  cease  to  be  Utopian  dreams,  and  would 
assume  a  definite  and  concrete  shape. 

It  is  sometimes  held  that  industrial  progress  must  in  the  long 
run  be  limited  by  the  standards  of  the  public  or  social  conscience 
of  the  nation  at  large — but  it  seems  reasonable  to  hope  that  the 
operation  of  the  voluntary  code  might  promote  the  development 
of  an  active  industrial  conscience  which  would  recognize  no  such 
restrictions,  but  would  actually  lead  the  way. 

At  any  rate,  I  think  we  might  claim  with  confidence,  that  many 
employers  endowed  with  public  spirit  and  enthusiasm,  would  adopt 
voluntarily,  for  experiment,  proposals  that  they  would  certainly 
have  felt  bound  to  reject,  when  accompanied  by  the  menace  of 
coercion.  That  is  the  theory  that  underlies  the  whole  conception, 
and  I  could  support  it  by  actual  instances  from  my  own  experience. 

B. — The   Congestion   of  the   Parliamentary   Machine 

Investigation  into  tlie  needs  of  the  industrial  situation  has  con- 
vinced me  of  the  enormous  advantages,  both  moral  and  material, 
of  Industrial  Self-Govemment ;  but  I  believe  my  argument  will  be 


APPENDIX  H  475 

still  further  strengthened  by  a  short  review  of  the  Parliamentary 
situation  itself. 

Even  before  the  war  the  difficulties  arising  from  the  congestion 
of  Parliament  were  attracting  very  widespread  attention,  and  there- 
fore need  no  elaboration  by  me. 

But  as  the  end  of  the  war  approaches  these  difficulties  will  be 
increased  a  hundredfold  by  the  stupendous  problems  of  The  Recon- 
struction— International,  Imperial,  National,  Industrial  and  Social. 

"Every  one  of  these  matters  will  be  urgent,  yet  every  one  of 
tliem  will  have  to  be  dealt  witli  by  one  Cabinet  and  one  Parliament. 
Is  it  not  inevitable  that  there  will  be  serious  delays  and  inefficiency 
and  hurry  in  the  effort  to  avoid  delay?  ...  It  requires,  indeed, 
no  elaboration  to  show  that  we  may  be  far  nearer  a  real  breakdown 
in  our  Governmental  machinery  than  any  one  supposes."  {Round 
Table,  December,  1916.) 

There  is  probably  no  department  of  our  national  life  in  which 
wise  progressive  legislation  is  more  urgently  needed  than  it  is  in 
the  industrial  sphere  to-day. 

Yet  there  seem  to  be  peculiarities  about  industrial  legislation 
that  render  it  particularly  difficult  of  accomplishment,  and,  when 
accomplished,  deprive  it  of  many  of  its  intended  advantages.  It 
is,  of  course,  controversial  to  an  astonishing  degree.  The  some- 
what automatic  opposition  of  the  party  system  is  augmented  by  the 
watchfulness  of  the  collectivists,  the  syndicalists,  the  individualists 
and  others,  all  anxious  to  defend  or  advance  their  own  particular 
points  of  view.  And  in  addition  to  this  there  is  always  the  strenu- 
ous opposition  of  the  industrial  interests  affected.  A  well-known 
association  of  employers  definitely  includes  this  as  one  of  its  ob- 
jects, as  the  following  quotation  will  show :  ''Oppressive  legisla- 
tion, .  .  .  and  other  menaces  to  the  welfare  of  our  industry,  can 
only  be  effectually  dealt  with  by  organized  and  concerted  effort." 
This  leads  me  to  suggest  that  industrial  legislation,  imposed  from 
without,  may  create,  like  coercion,  a  kind  of  resistance  that  otherwise 
might  never  have  arisen.  It  would  seem  possible,  therefore,  that 
it,  too,  is  a  wrong  princii^le  and  can  only  produce  the  minimum 
of  result  with  the  maximum  of  friction. 

If  this  be  true,  then  the  plan  of  industrial  self-government  stands 
out  very  clearly  as  a  promising  solution. 

Applied  separately  to  each  of  our  staple  industries,  it  would 
seem  to  offer  the  following  administrative  advantages: — 

(1)  It  would  ensure  that  every  industrial  problem  would  be 
considered  in  the  first  place  from  the  particular  point  of 
view  of  the  industry  itself,  and  this  would  certainly  help 


476  MANAGEMENT  AM)  MEN 

to  develop  progressive  traditions  of  public  service. 

(2)  It  would   moan   that  tho  rcj^'ulations   would   be  drawn   up 

by  the  parties  who  would  have  to  apply  them,  and  in 
this  way  the  particular  form  of  resistance  mentioned 
above  would  never  arise. 

(3)  It  would  withdraw  from  the  House  of  Commons  altogether 

an  enormous  mass  of  intricate  and  highly  controversial 
industrial  legislation  and  would  set  it  free  for  the  larger 
problems,  national,  imperial  and  international. 

It  would  hardly  be  wise  to  allow  the  Industrial  Parliaments  to 
take  over  the  administration  of  any  existing  industrial  legislation 
(e.g.,  factory  acts,  etc.)  until  they  had  shown  themselves  to  be 
fitted  for  such  duties.  Their  capacity  would  have  to  be  judged  by 
the  results  of  the  new  legislation  they  produced. 

But  it  is  worthy  of  notice  that  this  particular  type  of  adminis- 
trative devolution  is  already  in  accord  with  advanced  Labor  views. 
Mr.  G.  D.  H.  Cole  says  :— 

"The  State  is  in  the  dilemma  of  fearing  to  nationalize,  because 
it  mistrusts  its  own  capacity,  and  yet  of  being  wholly  unable  to 
interfere  successfully  without  nationalizing,  as  well  as  utterly  im- 
potent to  refrain  from  interference.  ...  It  must  be  set  free  from 
the  impossible  task  of  regulating  all  the  details  of  industry;  it  must 
be  liberated  for  the  work  that  is  worthy  of  the  national  dignity, 
and  it  must  leave  to  those  who  alone  are  competent  to  deal  with 
them  the  particular  tasks  of  industrial  organization  and  manage- 
ment. Devolution  is  the  order  of  the  day,  and  we  must  have  devolu- 
tion not  merely  by  localities,  but  also  by  purposes.  Even  if  the 
State  cannot  be  wholly  detached  from  industry,  the  problem  is  to 
free  it  as  far  as  possible,  and  not,  as  some  people  seem  to  think, 
to  concentrate  all  possible  tasks  in  its  hands.  .  .  .  "Responsibility 
is  the  best  teacher  of  self-reliance." 

I  would  add,  also,  that  it  is  the  best  safeguard  against  the  im- 
proper use  of  power. 

Having  now  stated  the  ease  for  industrial  self-government,  as  it 
has  appeared  to  me,  let  me  conclude  with  a  brief  account  of  the  re- 
ception of  the  scheme  by  the  organized  Labor  of  the  building  in- 
dustry. 

THE  RECEPTION  OP  THE  SCHEME 

The  reply  of  the  London  Committee  of  the  Carpenters  and 
Joiners  was  immediate  and  favorable.  They  strongly  supported 
the  proposal  and  sent  it  forward  to  their  National  Executive  in 
Manchester.  On  the  invitation  of  the  National  Executive  I  at- 
tended a  special  conference  held  in  London  in  April,  1916,  at  which 


APPENDIX  H  4.77 

the  General  Council  of  the  Carpenters  and  Joiners  were  also  repre- 
sented. 

The  discussion  was  frankly  favorable,  and  there  was  no  trace 
whatever  of  the  old  hostility  and  suspicion.  By  unanimous  vote 
they  decided  to  support  the  proposal  and  to  send  it  forward  to  the 
National  Associated  Building  Trades  Council — a  body  set  up  in 
1914  for  the  purpose  of  coordinating,  and  eventually  of  federating 
into  one  great  Industrial  Union,  the  principal  Trade  Unions  in  the 
building  industry. 

It  came  before  this  Council  in  June,  but  full  discussion  was  pre- 
vented by  lack  of  time.  It  was,  however,  printed  and  circulated 
to  the  twelve  affiliated  unions,  and  was  also  published  in  the  Trade 
Union  journals.  The  Council  then  decided  to  hold  a  full  day's 
conference  on  the  proposal  at  Liverpool  in  October,  and  as  a  pre- 
liminary to  this,  a  small  committee,  of  which  I  was  a  member,  met 
in  Manchester  in  September  to  prepare  the  scheme  in  more  detailed 
form  for  discussion  point  by  point. 

After  a  full  day's  discussion  at  Liverpool,  the  Council,  of  twenty- 
two  delegates,  representing  the  national  executives  of  the  principal 
Trade  Unions  in  the  industry,  decided,  without  a  single  dissentient, 
to  approve  the  scheme  in  principle. 

It  was  then  referred  to  the  national  executives  for  consideration 
before  being  forwarded  to  the  Employers'  Federation,  and  was 
again  printed  in  full  in  the  Trade  Union  journals. 

The  Council  reassembled  in  Manchester  at  the  end  of  November, 
and  the  replies  of  the  executives  being  favorable,  they  resolved, 
again  by  unanimous  vote,  to  lay  the  scheme  before  the  National 
Federation  of  Building  Trades  Employers  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  and  to  ask  for  a  preliminary  conference  upon  it. 

Four  delegates  were  appointed  to  collaborate  with  me  in  drawing 
up  a  special  explanatory  statement  to  accompany  the  scheme.  We 
met  in  Manchester  in  December  and  drew  up  the  document  which 
forms  an  appendix  to  this  memorandum. 

TWO  PROBLEMS 

1.  The  Electoral  System 

If  the  Industrial  Parliaments  are  to  render  their  full  service, 
it  is  essential  that  the  electoral  system  upon  which  they  are  set  up 
shall  be  such  as  will  command  general  respect  and  confidence,  but 
at  the  same  time  it  must  be  simple  and  inexpensive  in  its  worldng. 

In  its  simplest  form,  the  national  organizations  both  of  employers 
and  employed  would  each  furnish  a  given  number  of  representatives, 


478  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

choosing  the  host  tliat  could  he  found,  and  drawing  them  from 
the  OfTiee  and  the  Bencli,  as  well  as  from  the  Board  Room  and  the 
Trade  Union  headquarters.  If  this  method  proved  to  be  too  ex- 
clusive, the  country  might  be  divided  into  districts,  each  having  a 
Joint  District  Board  to  which  members  would  be  elected  by  ballot 
by  the  local  Trade  Unions  and  Employers'  Associations  respec- 
tively. 

Each  District  Board  might  then  send  two  of  its  members  (one 
for  Management  and  one  for  Labor)  to  the  National  Industrial 
Parliament,  and  thus  create  a  very  useful  link  between  the  central 
and  the  local  bodies. 

2.  The  Safeguarding  of  the  Consumers 

It  is  probable  tliat  the  establishment  of  Industrial  Parliaments 
on  the  lines  suggested  would  greatly  stimulate  the  existing  tendency 
towards  the  amalgamation  of  businesses  into  larger  and  larger 
concerns,  in  order  to  eliminate  unnecessary  duplication  and  waste- 
ful competition. 

This  might  sometimes  lead  to  "joint  profiteering"  at  the  expense 
of  the  consumers.  The  danger  is,  of  course,  not  new,  but  exists 
already,  and  may  easily  spread.  It  can,  however,  be  controlled  in 
various  ways ;  for  instance : — 

(a)  By  the  powers  of  veto  vested  in  the  Ministry  of  Industry. 

(b)  By  special  taxation. 

(c)  By  the  rapid  development  of  a  real  conception  of  industry 

as  a  great  public  service. 

The  true  road  of  advance  would  seem  to  lie  mainly  along  the  line 
of  the  last  suggestion — the  frank  acceptance  of  an  existing  tendency 
and  its  encouragement  in  the  right  direction. 

Possibly  the  State  could  grant  facilities  for  the  rapid  trustifica- 
tion of  industries,  but  make  these  facilities  conditional  upon  the 
adoption  of  some  definite  rules  of  public  service.  In  the  building 
industry'  I  believe  there  will  be  found  to  be  great  possibilities  of 
wise  development  on  these  lines. 

Both  this  and  other  dangers  might  ultimately  be  removed  by  the 
establishment  of  a  Central  Congress  of  Industry,  containing  repre- 
sentatives of  each  of  the  separate  Industrial  Parliaments,  together 
with  representatives  of  the  State,  the  municipalities  and  others,  and 
acting  as  a  Second  Chamber  for  the  consideration  and  sanction  of  all 
industrial  legislation. 

The  relation  of  such  a  body  to  the  Ministry  of  Industry-  and  to 
the  Government  would,  however,  require  very  careful   definition. 


APPENDIX  H  479 

COXCLUSION 

There  is  one  very  important  service  that  the  State,  through  its 
appropriate  Department,  could  undoubtedly  perform.  It  could 
set  up  a  central  Clearing  House  for  the  reception  and  dissemina- 
tion of  information  upon  Industrial  progress. 

In  this  way  it  would  enable  each  of  our  Industries  to  draw  upon 
the  experience  of  the  others,  to  profit  by  their  successes,  and  to 
avoid,  if  possible,  the  repetition  of  mistakes. 

To  secure  harmony  of  interest  between  Management  and  Labor 
has  been  described  as  "the  master  problem  of  the  modem  industrial 
state,"  and  the  favorable  reception  of  the  Industrial  Parliament 
scheme  by  a  group  of  Trade  Union  leaders  in  one  of  our  greatest 
industries  must  not  be  allowed  to  blind  us  to  the  immense  difficulties 
that  still  remain.  These  difficulties  demand  from  both  sides  a  new 
conception  of  Industry  as  a  public  service,  a  clear  understanding 
of  their  respective  functions  in  the  process  of  production,  a  certain 
daring  in  experiment  and  a  willingness  to  make  concessions,  if 
need  be,  for  the  common  good.  These  are  great  demands,  but  the 
emergency  and  the  opportunity  are  also  great.  I  believe  there  is 
no  problem  that  is  insoluble  by  scientific  organization  backed  up  by 
goodwill,  and  that  the  great  need  of  the  moment  is  a  clear  lead  on 
the  part  of  one  or  more  of  our  staple  industries.  If  we  can  rise 
to  this  we  shall  lay  the  foundation  of  another  Industrial  Revolution 
full  of  great  possibilities  of  service. 

APPENDIX 

Proposal  for  a  Builder's  National  IndustriaIi  Parliament 

A  Memorandum  addressed  to  The  National  Federation  of  Build- 
ing Trades  Employers  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  by  The  Na- 
tional Associated  Building  Trades  Council,  representing: — 

The  Amalgamated  Society  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners. 

The  General  Union  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners. 

The  Society  of  Operative  Stone  Masons. 

The   Amalgamated   Society   of  Woodcutting   Machinists. 

The  Operative  Bricklayers'  Society. 

The  Manchester  Order  of  Bricklayers. 

The  National  Operative  Painters'  Society. 

The  Amalgamated  Slaters  and  Tilers'  Society, 

The  Electrical  Trades  Union. 

The  National  Amalgamated  Furnishing  Trades  Association. 


480  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

The  National  Association  of  Builders*  Laborers. 
The  United  Builders'  Laborers'  Society. 
By  direction  of  a  Special  Meeting  of  the  Council  held  at  Man- 
chester, on  Tuesday,  November  28th,  1916,  and  in  accordance  with 
the  instructions  of  the  National  Executives  afTiliated. 

INTRODLXTION 

This  Memorandum  is  the  outcome  and  expression  of  a  desire  on 
the  part  of  the  leaders  of  organized  Labor  in  the  Building  Industry 
to  render  their  full  share  of  service  towards  the  creation  of  a  new 
and  better  industrial  order. 

By  general  consent,  the  old  system  has  proved  itself  unworthy,  and 
the  reasons  for  its  failure  are  not  far  to  seek.  From  the  days  of  the 
industrial  revolution  the  relations  between  employers  and  employed 
have  been  based  upon  antagonism,  coercion,  and  resistance. 

Throughout  the  whole  of  the  civilized  world  the  story  is  the  same. 
The  parallel  rise  of  Trade  Unions  and  Employers'  Associations  in 
mutual  opposition  has  reached  a  point  where  it  is  generally  recog- 
nized that  the  "normal  condition  of  the  world  of  industn,'  is  one  of 
suppressed  war." 

Under  such  a  system  many  a  forward  move  on  the  part  of  Labor 
towards  improved  conditions  is  opposed  almost  as  a  matter  of  duty 
by  the  Employers'  Associations,  and,  conversely,  many  improvements 
in  the  direction  of  increased  production  and  eflficiency  are  countered 
by  the  restrictive  regulations  of  the  Trade  Unions;  both  sides  act- 
ing, as  they  believe,  in  the  interests  of  their  members. 

The  two  sides  rarely  meet  except  to  make  demands  of  one  another 
or  to  compromise  conflicting  claims,  and  negotiations  are  inevitably 
carried  on  as  between  two  hostile  bodies.  In  this  way  great  powers 
of  leadership  and  willing  service  are  diverted  from  constructive  work 
into  the  sterile  fields  of  largely  useless  controversy. 

Both  employers  and  employed  have  been  the  unwilling  victims  of 
a  system  of  antagonism  that  has  organized  industry  on  the  lines 
of  a  tug-of-war  and  permeated  the  whole  national  life  with  sectional 
habits  of  thought  and  outlook.  Wherever  coercion  has  been  applied, 
by  one  side  against  the  other,  it  has  called  forth  a  resistance  that 
otherwise  miglit  never  have  arisen,  and  has  led  to  much  sterility  and 
waste. 

Whilst  the  total  elimination  of  such  conflicts  may  be  quite  im- 
possible, the  hope  of  the  future  undoubtedly  lies  in  the  intimate 
and  continuous  association  of  both  Management  and  Labor,  not  for 
the  negative  purpose  of  adjusting  differences,  but  for  the  positive 
purpose   of   promoting   the   progressive    improvement    of   their   in- 


APPENDIX  H  481 

dustrial  service,  from  which  alone  the  national  prosperity  can  be 
derived. 

Industrial  peace  must  come,  not  as  a  result  of  the  balance  of 
power,  with  a  supreme  Court  of  Appeal  in  the  background;  it  must 
arise  as  the  inevitable  by-product  of  mutual  confidence,  real  justice, 
constructive  good-will.  Industry  needs  no  truce,  no  compulsory 
arbitration,  no  provisions  for  postponement  of  disputes. 

What  it  needs  is  confidence  and  a  courageous  forward  movement, 
supported  by  the  constructive  genius  of  both  sides  in  common  coun- 
cil. No  one  engaged  in  constructive  work  can  fail  to  respond  to  the 
tremendous  call  of  the  big  job,  and  the  task  to  be  faced  to-day  is  the 
greatest  problem  in  social  engineering  that  the  world  has  ever  seen. 

It  is  believed  that  the  common  interests  of  industry  will  be  found 
to  be  wider  and  more  fundamental  than  those  which  are  still,  ad- 
mittedly, opposed;  and  it  is  upon  the  broad  basis  of  these  common 
interests  that  the  fabric  of  the  new  industrial  order  may  be  confi- 
dently raised. 

It  is  willingly  acknowledged  that  this  community  of  interest  is 
already  being  recognized  by  the  Employers'  Federation.  The  com- 
position of  the  National  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Council,  the 
new  apprenticeship  proposals,  the  various  joint  deputations  to  the 
Government  departments  are  all  evidence  of  this. 

It  appears,  therefore,  to  be  eminently  desirable  that  a  proposal 
involving  a  great  development  of  this  principle  should  receive  full 
consideration ;  and,  believing  that  the  appropriate  time  has  now 
arrived,  the  National  Associated  Building  Trades  Council  submits 
the  following  scheme  to  the  National  Federation  of  Building  Trades 
Employers  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  as  a  basis  for  preliminary 
discussion : — 

A  National  Industrial  Parliament  for  the  Building  Industry 

ARGUMENT 

The  interest  of  employers  and  employed  are  in  many  respects 
opposed;  but  they  have  a  common  interest  in  promoting  the  effi- 
ciency and  status  of  the  service  in  which  they  are  engaged  and  in 
advancing  the  well-being  of  its  personnel. 

PROPOSAL 

It  is  proposed  that  there  should  be  set  up,  for  the  Building  In- 
dustry, a  National  Industrial  Parliament,  representative  of  the  Trade 
Unions  and  the  Employers'  Associations,  which  would  focus  their 
combined  energies  upon  the  continuous  and  progressive  improve- 
ment of  the  industry. 


482  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

NAME 

The  proposed  body  would  bo  called  the  Builders'  National  In- 
dustrial Parliament  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 

OIJJECTS 

The  objects  of  the  Parliament  would  be  to  promote  the  continu- 
ous and  progressive  improvement  of  the  industry,  to  realize  its 
organic  unity  as  a  great  national  service,  and  to  advance  the  well- 
being  and  status  of  all  connected  with  it. 

PROGRAM 

The  Parliament  would  not  concern  itself  with  the  adjustment  of 
differences  or  the  settlement  of  disputes.  Means  already  exist  for 
conducting  such  negotiations  and  settling  such  issues.  The  func- 
tion of  the  Parliament  would  be  constructive,  and  nothing  but  con- 
structive. 

The  agenda  would  be  determined  from  time  to  time  according  to 
circumstances  as  they  arose,  and  would  naturally  include  such  mat- 
ters as  the  following : — 

1.  Regularization  of  Wages. — The  provision  of  a  graduated  scale 
of  minimum  rates  designed  to  maintain  real  wages  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible on  a  level  throughout  the  country.  Subsequent  advances  to  be 
on  a  national  basis. 

2.  Prevention  of  Unemployment. —  (a)  To  acquire  a  fuller  par- 
ticipation in  the  control  of  the  Board  of  Trade  Labor  Exclianges, 
and  to  supplement  their  work  by  improved  organization  special  to 
the  building  trade  for  the  decasualization  of  labor,  and  (b)  to 
minimize  the  fluctuation  of  trade  by  intelligent  anticipation  and  the 
augmentation  of  demand  in  slack  periods,  in  cooperation  with  the 
National  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Council  and  the  Local  Gov- 
ernment Board. 

3.  Employment  of  Partially  Disabled  Soldiers. — To  regulate  the 
employment  of  partially  disabled  soldiers  and  to  ensure  that  the 
pensions  granted  by  the  nation  shall  not  become  the  means  of  reduc- 
ing the  standard  rate  of  wages. 

4.  Technical  Training  and  Research. — To  arrange  for  adequate 
technical  training  for  the  members  of  the  industry,  the  improvement 
of  processes,  design  and  standards  of  workmanship,  apprenticeship, 
research,  and  the  regulation  of  the  conditions  of  entry  into  the  trade. 

5.  Publicity. — To  issue  authoritative  information  upon  all  matters 
whereon  it  is  deemed  desirable  that  leaders  of  public  opinion,  the 
Press,  and  the  general  public  should  have  exact  information. 


APPENDIX  H  483 

6.  Continuous  and  Progressive  Improvement. — To  provide  a 
Clearing  House  for  ideas,  and  to  investigate,  in  conjunction  with 
experts,  every  suggested  line  of  improvement,  including,  for  ex- 
ample, such  questions  as : — 

Industrial  Control  and  Status  of  Labor. 
Scientific  Management  and  Increase  of  Output. 
Welfare  Methods. 

Closer  association   between   commercial   and  aesthetic  require- 
ments. 

METHOD 

The  Parliament  would  set  up  Committees  of  Inquiry  (with  power 
to  eoopt  experts)  to  investigate  and  report  on  each  of  the  foregoing 
matters,  and  would  deal  with  their  recommendations  as  and  Avhen 
presented.  All  proposals  before  the  Parliament  would  be  fully 
ventilated  and  discussed  through  the  medium  of  Joint  District 
Boards,  Works  Committees,  the  Trade  Papers  and  the  general  Press, 
in  order  that  the  opinion  of  the  members  of  the  building  trade  and 
of  the  general  public  thereon  might  be  accurately  gaged  before  final 
decisions  were  taken. 

RESULT 

The  result  would  be  the  progressive  development  of  two  codes: — 

(a)  A  compulsory  code,  probably  involving  legal  sanction  of 

agreed  minimum  standards;  and 

(b)  A  voluntary  code,  built  up  from  the  recommendations  of  the 

improvements  Committee  for  the  voluntary,  and  perhaps 
experimental,  adoption  of  progressive  employers. 
It  would  thus  embody  all  proposals  of  which  the  principle  was  gen- 
erally approved,  but  for  which  it  was  not  yet  possible  or  advisable 
to  ask  for  compulsory  powers.  It  would  greatly  stimulate  the  ad- 
vance of  public  opinion  on  matters  of  industrial  and  social  improve- 
ment. 

LEGAL   SANCTION  FOR  COMPULSORY   CODE 

This  might  be  accomplished  by  a  special  Act  of  Parliament,  giv- 
ing power  to  the  Board  of  Trade,  or  a  Ministry  of  Industry,  to  ratify 
the  decisions  of  the  Industrial  Parliament,  and  apply  them  to  the 
whole  of  the  industry,  subject  to  adequate  safeguards  for  the  in- 
terests of  consumers. 

STATUS   OF   INDUSTRIAL   PARLIAMENT 

There  is  at  present  no  recognized  body  with  which  the  Govern- 
ment can  communicate  in  regard  to  matters  concerning  the  building 


484  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

industry  as  a  wliolc — employers  and  ernplr)yed.  The  Parliament 
would  exactly  meet  tliis  need,  and  would  become  the  mouthpiece  and 
executive  of  the  industry  as  a  whole. 

Suggested  Constitution 
membership 

Pending  the  establishment  of  more  elaborate  electoral  machinery,  it 
is  suggested  that  twenty  members  should  be  appointed  by  the  Na- 
tional Federation  of  Building  Trades  Employers  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  and  twenty  members  by  the  National  Associated  Build- 
ing Trades  Council. 

It  might  be  advisable  that  the  representatives  of  the  above  or- 
ganizations should  be  appointed  in  a  manner  to  ensure,  on  the  one 
hand,  the  inclusion  of  actual  operatives  in  addition  to  trade-union 
officials,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  of  representatives  of  the  managing 
staffs  as  well  as  the  actual  employers.  Either  side  would  be  at  lib- 
erty to  change  its  representatives  to  suit  its  convenience. 

CHAIRMAN 

To  be  chosen  by  ballot  by  the  whole  assembly.  To  be  independent 
and  advisory  only,  and  to  have  no  casting  vote. 

SECRETARY 

The  routine  work  of  the  Parliament  would  largely  devolve  upon 
the  secretary,  who  should  be  an  impartial  salaried  administrator  of 
proved  experience  and  capacity. 

MEETINGS 

The  Parliament  should  meet  at  such  times  and  inten-als  as  would 
allow  of  members  still  devoting  part  of  their  time  to  their  ordinary 
occupations. 

REMUNERATION    OF   MEMBERS 

This  would  be  restricted  to  the  refund  of  expenses  and  compensa- 
tion for  loss  of  earnings.  Financial  pro\'ision  for  this  would  be 
arranged  by  each  of  the  two  organizations  independently. 

VOTING 

In  order  to  secure  a  basis  of  absolute  confidence,  it  is  suggested 
that  rules  be  drawn  up  to  ensure  that  the  number  of  employers' 
representatives  and  operatives'  I'epresentatives  voting  upon  a  meas- 
ure shall  always  be  equal. 


APPENDIX  H  485 

Suggested  Auxiliary  Assemblies 

joint  district  boards 

These  would  be  set  up  by  local  units  of  the  two  organizations  for 
the  discussion  of  the  proj^osals  of  the  Industrial  Parliament  and  the 
furnishing  of  local  facts  and  statistics  as  required.  They  would  also 
perform  a  valuable  service  by  preparing  and  forwarding  sugges- 
tions for  consideration. 

WORKS   COMMITTEES 

These  would  be  small  groups  representing  Management  and  Labor, 
set  up  for  the  same  purpose  in  particular  shops. 

Conclusion 

The  scheme,  briefly  outlined  above,  strikes  out  a  new  line  of  ad- 
ministrative devolution,  namely,  devolution  by  occupation  as  com- 
pared with  devolution  by  geographical  area,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
County  Councils. 

It  represents,  in  fact,  the  distinctively  British  Imperial  tradition 
of  justice  and  self-government  as  applied  to  industry,  and  stands 
out  clearly  against  the  rival  industrial  systems  of  which  so  much  is 
heard. 

And  it  will  have  this  important  result.  Hitherto  industrial  legis- 
lation has  always  been  imposed  from  without,  and  has  encountered 
strenuous  opposition  on  the  part  of  organizations  concerned  to  de- 
fend what  they  held  to  be  their  interests. 

Now  the  process  would  be  reversed.  The  industry  itself  would 
first  agree  on  its  conditions  and  would  then  submit  them  to  the 
Board  of  Trade  for  approval  and  sanction.  In  this  way  the 
House  of  Commons  would  be  relieved  of  an  immense  mass  of  highly 
controversial  work  and  set  free  for  the  larger  National,  Imperial 
and  International  problems. 

Nor  is  this  the  only  advantage  that  would  arise.  The  spectacle  of 
organized  Management  and  Labor,  uniting  their  constructive  ener- 
gies upon  a  great  program  of  reorganization  and  advance,  might 
transform  the  whole  atmosphere  of  our  industrial  life. 

The  increase  in  efficiency  and  output  consequent  upon  the  substi- 
tution of  constructive  cooperation  for  the  old  antagonism  and  sus- 
picion would  be  very  great.  But  the  change  would  bring  even 
greater  benefits  than  this.  It  would  raise  the  whole  status  of  the 
industry  and  give  to  its  members  a  new  pride  in  their  work  as  a 
splendid  public  service.     It  would  tend  to  break  down  the  barriers 


4«6  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

tliat  Ii.avc  so  long  confined  and  irapoverishcd  the  national  life  and 
would  promote  the  development  of  a  real  team  spirit. 

The  Building  Industry  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  important 
of  the  staple  trades.  If  it  will  give  a  united  lead  with  a  construc- 
tive proposal  on  the  general  lines  suggested,  we  believe  that  its  ex- 
ample will  be  of  great  service  to  our  country  a3  she  faces  the  im- 
mense problems  that  confront  her  at  this  time. 

Signed  on  behalf  of  the  National  Associated  Building 
Trades  Council, 

S.  Hunter,  Chairman. 
J.    Parsonage,    Secretary, 


THE  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCIL  FOR  THE  BUILDING 
INDUSTRY 

(Building  Trades  Parliament.) 
Established  29th  May,  1918 

CONSTITUTION  AND  RULES  ADOPTED  1st  AUGUST,  1918 
MINISTRY  OF  LABOR, 

Montagu  House,  Whitehall, 
London,  S.  W.  I. 

12th  August,  1918. 
Sir, 

I  am  directed  by  the  Minister  of  Labor  to  refer  to  your  letter  of 
14th  June,  making  application  for  official  recognition  for  the  In- 
dustrial Council  for  the  Building  Industry,  and  to  state  that  the 
Minister  is  prepared  to  give  such  recognition,  and  agrees  to  the  in- 
sertion of  clause  23  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Joint  Industrial 
Council  dealing  with  such  recognition. 

I  am.  Sir, 

Your  obedient  Servant, 

D.  J.  Shackleton. 
A.  G.  White,  Esq., 
Joint  Secretarv^, 

Industrial  Council  for  the  Building  Industry, 
48  Bedford  Square,  W.  C.  1. 


APPENDIX  H  487 


Preface 

This  Council  is  the  outcome  and  expression  of  a  desire  on  the 
part  of  organized  Employers  and  Operatives  in  the  Building  In- 
dustry to  render  their  full  share  of  service  towards  the  creation  of  a 
new  and  better  industrial  order. 

By  general  consent,  the  old  system  has  proved  itself  unworthy, 
and  the  reasons  for  its  failure  are  not  far  to  seek.  From  the  days 
of  the  industrial  revolution  the  relations  between  emi)loyers  and 
employed  have  been  based  upon  antagonism,  coercion,  and  resistance. 

Throughout  the  whole  of  the  civilized  world  the  story  is  the  same. 
The  parallel  rise  of  Trade  Unions  and  Employers'  Associations  in 
mutual  opposition  has  reached  a  point  where  it  is  generally  recog- 
nized that  the  "normal  condition  of  the  world  of  industry  is  one  of 
suppressed  war." 

Under  such  a  system  many  a  forward  move  on  the  part  of  Labor 
towards  improved  conditions  is  opposed  almost  as  a  matter  of  duty 
by  the  Employers'  Associations,  and,  conversely,  many  improvements 
in  the  direction  of  increased  production  and  efficiency  are  countered 
by  the  restrictive  regulations  of  the  Trade  Unions;  both  sides  acting, 
as  they  believe,  in  the  interests  of  their  members. 

The  two  sides  rarely  meet  except  to  make  demands  of  one  another 
or  to  compromise  conflicting  claims,  and  negotiations  are  inevitably 
carried  on  as  between  two  hostile  bodies.  In  this  way  great  powers 
of  leadership  and  willing  service  are  diverted  from  constructive  work 
into  the  sterile  fields  of  largely  useless  controversy. 

Both  employers  and  employed  have  been  the  unwilling  victims  of 
a  system  of  antagonism  that  has  organized  industry  on  the  lines  of 
a  tug-of-war,  and  permeated  the  whole  national  life  with  sectional 
habits  of  thought  and  outlook.  Wherever  coercion  has  been  applied, 
by  one  side  against  the  other,  it  has  called  forth  a  resistance  that 
otherwise  might  never  have  arisen,  and  has  led  to  much  sterility  and 
waste. 

Whilst  the  total  elimination  of  such  conflict  may  be  quite  im- 
possible, the  hope  of  the  future  undoubtedly  lies  in  the  intimate  and 
continuous  association  of  both  Management  and  Labor,  not  for  the 
negative  purpose  of  adjusting  differences,  but  for  the  positive  pur- 
pose of  promoting  the  progressive  improvement  of  their  indus- 
trial service,  from  which  alone  the  national  prosperity  can  be 
derived. 

Industrial  peace  must  come,  not  as  a  result  of  the  balance  of 
power,  with  a  supreme  Court  of  Appeal  in  the  background ;  it  must 
arise  as  the  inevitable  by-product  of  mutual  confidence,  real  jus- 


488 


MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 


tice,  constructive  goodwill.  Industry  needs  no  truce,  no  compulsory 
arbitration,  no  provisions  for  postponement  of  disputes. 

What  it  needs  is  conlidence  and  a  courageous  forward  movement, 
supported  by  the  conslnulivc  genius  of  bolli  sides  in  comuKjn  coun- 
cil. No  one  engaged  in  constructive  work  can  fail  to  respond  to  the 
tremendous  call  of  the  big  jol),  and  the  task  to  be  faced  to-day  is 
the  greatest  problem  in  social  engineering  that  the  world  has  ever 
seen. 

It  is  believed  that  the  common  interests  of  industry  will  be  found 
to  be  wider  and  more  fundamental  than  those  which  are  still,  admit- 
tedly, opposed;  and  it  is  upon  the  broad  basis  of  these  common 
interests  that  the  fabric  of  the  new  industrial  order  may  be  confi- 
dently raised. 

COMPOSITION  OF  THE  COUNCIL 


employers. 

The  National  Fedkration  of 

Building   Trades   Employers 

compbising: 

'Name.  Representation. 

Northern  Coimties  Federation  2 

Yorkshire   Federation    '^ 

North-VVestern    Federation ...    7 

Midland    Federation    4 

London   Federation    8 

Eastern   Counties   Federation .    2 
Southern  Counties  Federation  2 
Southwestern    Counties    Fed- 
eration        2 

South  Wales  Federation    ....   2 

—32 

The  CoNFEDEBAnoN  OF  National 
Associations    of    Building 
Trades  Sub-Contbactobs 
comprising: 
National   Association  of  Mas- 
ter House  Painters  and  Dec- 
orators    in      England     and 

Wales   4 

National  Association  of  Mas- 
ter Plasterers   3 

National  Federation  of  Slate 
Merchants,  Slaters,  and  Ti- 
lers       3 


operatives 

The  National  Federation  of 

Ml  ILDING  Trades  Operatives 

COMPBISING: 
yiame.  Representation. 

.Amalgamated  Society  of  Car- 
penters, Cabinetmakers,  and 
Joiners   8 

(ieneral  Union  of  Carpenters 
and  .Joiners   4 

National  .Amalgamated  Soci- 
ety of  Operative  House  and 
Ship  Painters  and  Decora- 
tors        4 

Operative  Stonemasons'  Soci- 
ety        4 

-Amalgamated  Society  of 
Woodcutting  Machinists    .  .   4 

United  Operative  Plumbers' 
and  Domestic  Engineers'  As- 
sociation of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland  4 

National  Association  of  Oper- 
ative Plasterers   4 

National  Association  of  Build- 
ers'  Laborers    4 

Operative  Bricklayers'  Society  3 

United  Builders'  Laborers' 
Union    3 

Manchester    Unity    of    Opera- 


APPENDIX  H 


489 


Institute  of  Plumbers,  Ltd.  .  .   4 
National   Association   of  Mas- 
ter   Heating    and    Domestic 

Engineers     2 

Electrical  Contractors'  Associ- 
ation        2 

London    Constructional    Engi- 
neers' Association    2 

—20 

Institute  of  Builders 4 

Scottish   Xational    Building 
Trades  Federation  10 


66 


tive  Bricklayers  2 

Amalgamated  Slaters  and  Ti- 
lers'   Provident   Society....   2 

Electrical  Trades  Union 2 

Xational  Association  of  Oper- 
ative Heating  and  Domestic 
Engineers     2 

Xational  Union  of  General 
Workers  (Building  Trade 
Section )      2 

United  Order  of  General  La- 
borers of  London 2 

United  Builders'  Laborers' 
and  General  Laborers'  Union  2 

—56 

Scottish   Operative  Unions...      10 

66 


THE 

INDUSTRIAL   COUNCIL  FOR   THE   BUILDING   INDUSTRY 

(Building  Trades  Parliament) 


CONSTITUTION  AND  RULES 

Adopted  at  a  Meeting  of  the  Council  held  in 
Birmingham,  1st  August,  1918 


NAME 


1.  The  name  shall  be  The  Industrial  Council  for  the  Building  In- 
dustry (Building  Trades  Parliament),  hereinafter  referred  to  as  the 
Council. 

OBJECTS 

2.  The  Council  is  established  to  secure  the  largest  possible  meas- 
ure of  joint  action  between  employers  and  workpeople  for  the 
development  of  the  industry  as  a  part  of  national  life,  and  for  the 
improvement  of  the  conditions  of  all  engaged  in  that  industry. 


-190  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

It  will  be  open  to  the  Couneil  to  take  any  action  that  falls  within 
the  scope  of  this  general  definition.  More  specific  objects  will  be  the 
following : — 

(a)  To  recommend  means  for  securing  that  industrial  conditions 
affecting  employers  and  operatives,  or  the  relations  between  them, 
siiall  be  systematically  reviewed  by  those  concerned,  with  a  view  to 
their  improvement. 

(6)  To  consider,  discuss,  and  formulate  oi)inion  upon  any  pro- 
posals which  proffer  to  those  engaged  in  the  industry  the  means  of 
attaining  improved  conditions  and  a  higher  standard  of  life,  and 
involve  the  enlistment  of  their  active  and  continuous  cooperatif)n  in 
the  development  of  the  industry',  and  to  make  recommendations 
thereon,  including  such  questions  as  measures  for — 

(1)  Regularizing  production  and  employment. 

(2)  The  provision  of  a  graduated  scale  of  minimum  rates  de- 
signed to  maintain  real  wages  as  nearly  as  possible  on  a 
level  throughout  the  country. 

(3)  Minimizing  the  fluctuations  of  trade  by  intelligent  anticipa- 
tion and  the  augmentation  of  demand  in  slack  periods. 

(4)  Scientific  management  and  reduction  of  costs. 

(5)  Welfare  methods. 

(6)  Closer  association  between  commercial  and  aesthetic  require- 
ments. 

(7)  The  inclusion  of  all  employers  and  workpeople  in  their  re- 
spective associations. 

(8)  The  revision  and  improvement  of  existing  machinery  for 
the  settlement  of  differences  between  different  sections  of 
the  industry,  or  for  the  provision  of  such  machinery  where 
non-existent,  with  the  object  of  securing  the  speedy  settle- 
ment of  difficulties. 

(9)  The  better  utilization  of  the  practical  knowledge  and  ex- 
perience of  those  engaged  in  the  industry. 

(10)  Securing  to  the  workpeople  a  greater  share  in  and  re- 
sponsibility for  the  determination  and  observ'ance  of  the 
conditions  under  which  their  work  is  carried  on. 

(11)  The  settlement  of  the  general  principles  governing  the  con- 
ditions of  employment,  including  the  methods  of  fixing,  pay- 
ing, and  readjusting  wages,  having  regard  to  the  need  for 
securing  to  all  engaged  in  the  industry  a  share  in  the  in- 
creased prosperity  of  the  industry. 

(12)  Ensuring  to  the  workpeople  the  greatest  possible  security  of 
earnings  and  employment. 


APPENDIX  H  491 

(13)  Dealing  with  the  many  dififieulties  which  arise  with  regard 
to  the  method  and  amount  of  payment  apart  from  the  fixing 
of  general  standard  rates. 

(c)  To  collect  and  circulate  statistics  and  information  on  mat- 
ters appertaining  to  the  industry. 

(d)  To  promote  research  and  the  study  and  improvement  of 
processes,  design,  and  standards  and  methods  of  workmanship,  witli 
a  viev?  of  perfecting  the  products  of  the  industrJ^ 

{e)  To  provide  facilities  for  the  full  consideration  and  utilization 
of  inventions  and  improvements  in  machinery  or  methods,  and  for 
adequately  safeguarding  the  rights  of  the  designers  or  inventors 
thereof ;  and  to  secure  that  the  benefits,  financial  or  otherwise,  arising 
therefrom  shall  be  equitably  apportioned  among  the  designers  or 
inventors,  the  proprietors  or  lessees,  and  the  operators  thereof. 

(/)  The  supervision  of  entry  into,  and  training  for,  the  industry, 
and  cooperation  with  the  educational  authorities  in  arranging  educa- 
tion in  all  its  branches  for  the  industry'. 

(g)  The  issue  to  the  Press  of  authoritative  statements  upon  mat- 
ters affecting  the  industry  of  general  interest  to  the  community. 

(h)  Representation  of  the  needs  and  opinions  of  the  industry 
to  Government  Departments  and  Local  Authorities. 

(?)  The  consideration  of  any  other  matters  that  may  be  referred 
to  it  by  the  Government  or  any  Government  Department. 

(j)  Cooperation  with  the  Joint  Industrial  Councils  of  other  in- 
dustries to  deal  with  problems  of  common  interest. 

{k)  To  provide,  as  far  as  practicable,  that  important  proposals 
affecting  the  industry  shall  be  fully  ventilated  and  discussed  through 
the  medium  of  Committees  of  Enquiry  (with  power  to  coopt  ex- 
perts), Joint  District  Boards,  Works  Committees,  the  Trade  Papers, 
and  the  general  Press:  in  order  that  the  opinion  of  members  of  the 
industry  and  of  the  general  public  thereon  may  be  accurately  gaged 
before  definite  decisions  are  taken. 

CONSTITUTION 

3.'  The  Council  shall  consist  of  132  members,  appointed  as  to  one- 
half  by  Associations  or  Federations  of  Employers  and  as  to  the  other 
half  by  Trade  Unions  or  Federations  of  Operatives. 

Until  otherwise  determined  in  the  manner  hereinafter  provided, 
the  composition  of  the  Council  shall  be  as  set  out. 

4.  Each  representative  of  the  said  Associations,  Unions,  or  Federa- 
tions shall  remain  the  representative  for  a  minimum  period  of 
twelve  months  and  thereafter  until  his  successor  is  appointed  by  the 
body  responsible  for  his  election. 


492  MANAGExMENT  AND  xMEN 

Casual  vacancies  shall  be  filled  by  the  Union,  Association,  or 
Federation  concerned,  which  shall  appoint  a  member  to  sit  until  the 
end  of  the  current  year. 

5.  The  appointments  for  the  ensuing  year  shall  be  made  prior  to 
the  30th  June  each  year,  and  the  names  and  addresses  of  those  ap- 
pointed shall  be  sent  to  the  Secretaries  of  the  Council  on  or  before 
that  date. 

(i.  Any  Trades  Union,  Association,  or  Federation  directly  affili- 
ated, wishing  to  retire  from  this  Council,  shall  give  six  calendar 
months'  notice  in  writing  to  the  Secretaries,  such  notice  to  expire  on 
the  30th  June  in  any  year,  pay  up  all  arrears  (if  any),  and  on 
retiring  shall  cease  to  have  any  interest  in  or  claim  on  the  funds  of 
the  Council. 

7.  The  Council  shall  meet  quarterly  or  oftener  if  required.  The 
meetings  of  the  Council  may  be  held  in  different  industrial  centers, 
as  may  be  from  time  to  time  determined  or  in  response  to  invita- 
tions it  may  receive.  The  meeting  next  ensuing  after  the  30th  June 
shall  be  the  Annual  Meeting,  and  the  first  Annual  Meeting  shall  take 
place  in  1918.     Fourteen  days'  notice  to  be  given. 

8.  At  the  Annual  Meeting  there  shall  be  elected  for  the  ensuing 
twelve  months  from  among  the  members  of  Council  the  following 
officers,  viz. : — 

A  Chairman,  a  Vice-Chairman,  a  Treasurer,  together  with  an 
Administrative  Committee  consisting  of  ten  Employer  and  ten  Oper- 
ative representatives. 

9.  The  Council  shall  be  empowered  to  maintain  a  Secretary,  or 
Secretaries,  and  such  clerical  staff  as  it  may  think  fit.  Provided  that 
the  Secretaries  appointed  at  the  inaugural  meeting  held  in  May, 
1918,  remain  in  office  until  the  Annual  Meeting  in  1919,  that  prior 
thereto  the  Administrative  Committee  prepare  a  report  for  presenta- 
tion at  the  Annual  Meeting  dealing  with  the  appointment  and  re- 
muneration of  Secretaries,  with  such  recommendations  in  regard 
thereto  as  it  may  think  fit,  so  that  the  Council  may  deliberate  and 
decide  upon  any  remuneration  for  services  rendered,  and  upon  the 
further  arrangements  to  be  adopted  in  regard  to  the  appointment 
and  remuneration  of  Secretaries.  Provided  also  that  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  Administrative  Committee  made  at  the  said  inaugural 
meeting  be  subject  to  confirmation  at  the  first  Annual  Meeting. 

10.  The  quorum  for  the  Council  shall  be  thirty  representatives 
present. 

The  quorum  for  the  Administrative  Committee  shall  be  nine  repre- 
sentatives present. 

Other  Committees  shall  fix  their  own  quorum. 


APPENDIX  H  493 

11.  A  Special  Meeting  of  the  Council  shall  be  called  within  four- 
teen days  of  the  receipt  of  a  requisition,  duly  signed,  from  not  less 
than  twenty  members  of  the  Council  or  from  the  Administrative 
Committee. 

The  matters  to  be  discussed  at  such  meeting  shall  be  stated  upon 
the  notice  summoning  it. 

12.  The  voting  both  in  Council  and  in  Committees  shall  be  by 
show  of  hands  or  otherwise,  as  the  Council  or  Committees  may 
determine. 

13.  The  Council  may  delegate  special  powers  to  any  Committee  it 
appoints. 

The  Council  may  appoint  such  standing  or  sectional  Committees 
as  may  be  necessary,  provided  that  questions  affecting  only  a  par- 
ticular Trade  shall  be  relegated  to  a  Committee  composed  of  mem- 
bers of  the  Council  who  are  also  representatives  of  such  Trade.  It 
shall  also  have  the  power  to  appoint  other  Committees  for  special 
purposes.  The  reports  of  all  Committees  shall  be  submitted  to  the 
Council  for  confirmation,  except  where  special  powers  have  been 
delegated  to  a  Committee. 

14.  The  Council  shall  have  the  power  of  appointing  on  Commit- 
tees, or  of  allowing  Committees  to  coopt,  such  persons  of  special 
knowledge,  not  being  members  of  the  Council,  as  may  serve  the 
special  puiposes  of  the  Council,  provided  that,  so  far  as  the  Ad- 
ministrative Committee  is  concerned, — 

A.  Employers  and  Operatives  shall  be  equally  represented; 

B.  Any  appointed  or  coopted  members  shall  serve  only  in  a  con- 

sultative capacity. 

15.  The  Administrative  Committee  shall  meet  as  often  as  required, 
at  the  discretion  of  the  Chairman,  and  shall  deal  with  all  business 
arising  between  the  meetings  of  the  Council. 

16.  To  avoid  unnecessary  traveling,  Committee  meetings  may  be 
held  at  the  most  convenient  offices  of  any  of  the  organizations  which 
are  represented  on  the  Council,  subject  to  their  rooms  not  being  en- 
gaged otherwise  when  desired  by  the  Committee  for  a  meeting,  and 
provided  that  the  said  organizations  afford  the  requisite  facilities 
free  of  charge. 

17.  The  Administrative  Committee  shall  control  the  work  of  the 
Secretary  or  Secretaries,  and  shall  have  power  to  appoint  Sub- 
Committees  to  deal  with  special  subjects,  also  to  authorize  payment 
of  current  expenses  subject  to  such  direction  as  the  Council  may 
give  from  time  to  time. 

18.  The  Hon.   Treasurer  shall  render  to  the  Council,  whenever 


494  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

called  upon  to  do  so,  an  account  of  all  sums  received  and  paid,  and 
shall  present  accounts  at  each  Annual  Meeting. 

All  cheques  for  withdrawal  of  money  from  the  Bank  shall  be 
signed  by  the  Chairman  and  tlie  Hon.  Treasurer. 

19.  The  accounts  shall  be  audited  by  a  duly  appointed  Chartered 
or  Incorporated  Accountant. 

FINANCE 

20.  The  traveling  and  other  expenses  of  representatives  attending 
Meetings  of  the  Council  are  to  be  borne  by  the  Trade  Unions,  Asso- 
ciations, or  Federations  which  appoint  them,  according  to  sucl: 
regulations  as  the  appointing  bodies  shall  determine. 

21.  Any  other  expenses  of  the  Council  are  to  be  borne  as  to 
one-half  by  the  Employer  Organizations  and  as  to  one-half  by  the 
Operative  Organizations  directly  affiliated  to  the  Council. 

The  allocation  of  each  half  share  among  the  respective  Employer 
or  Operative  Organizations  to  be  in  proportion  to  their  respective 
representation,  or  in  such  other  proportion  as  they  may  by  mutual 
agreement  determine. 

Provided  that  upon  the  election  of  the  first  Council,  the  sum  of 
£1000  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Council,  made  up  of  con- 
tributions from  the  respective  organizations,  calculated  as  aforesaid, 
to  cover  its  expenses  for  the  first  year  ending  30th  June,  1919,  and 
that  at  the  end  of  the  year  the  Council  make  up  its  accounts  and 
ascertain  the  amount  required  to  make  up  the  difference  spent  during 
the  year,  and  that  it  make  a  presentment  to  the  respective  organiza- 
tions, showing  the  share  due  from  them,  which  shall  then  become 
due  and  payable. 

The  Council  is  hereby  empowered  to  make  such  pajTnents  as  it 
thinks  fit,  but  within  the  means  thus  placed  at  its  disposal,  for  the 
purpose  of  defraying  the  cost  of  carrying  on  its  work. 

The  expenses  of  the  Members  of  Committees  appointed  by  the 
Council  to  be  defrayed  by  the  Council  according  to  such  scale  as  it 
may  from  time  to  time  determine. 

PUBLICITY 

22.  The  Council  shall  keep  minutes  of  its  proceedings  and  shall 
give  such  publicity  to  its  proceedings  as  many  be  practicable  and 
desirable.  It  may  avail  itself  of  such  facilities  as  may  be  afforded 
to  it,  either  by  the  Press  or  by  any  publications  issued  by  any  of  the 
organizations  represented  on  the  Council. 


APPENDIX  H  495 


RELATIONS   WITH   THE  GOVERKMENT 

23.  The  Council  is  the  recognized  official  standing  Consultative 
Committee  to  the  Government  on'  all  questions  affecting  the  industry 
it  represents,  and  is  the  normal  channel  through  which  the  opinion 
and  experience  of  the  Building  Industry  will  be  sought  on  all  ques- 
tions with  which  the  industry  is  concerned. 

REGIONAL  COUNCILS 

24.  The  Council  shall,  as  soon  as  practicable,  formulate  a  scheme 
for  the  formation  of  Regional  Councils  to  be  linked  up  with  the 
Council. 

ALTERATIONS   OF   CONSTITUTION   AND  RULES 

25.  Alterations  of  the  forgoing  Constitution  and  Rules  may  be 
made  at  any  Special  Meeting  called  for  the  purpose,  or  at  any  Quar- 
terly Meeting,  provided  three  months'  notice  of  the  proposed  al- 
terations has  been  duly  given  prior  thereto  to  the  Secretary  or  Sec- 
retaries in  writing.  On  receipt  of  such  notice  the  proposed  amend- 
ments shall  be  at  once  communicated  to  the  Trade  Unions,  Associa- 
tions, and  Federations  directly  affiliated  to  the  Council  for  their 
consideration. 


STANDING  ORDERS  GOVERNING  PROCEDURE  IN  DEBATE 
AT  MEETINGS  OF  THE  COUNCIL 

CHAIRMANSHIP 

1.  At  every  Council  Meeting  the  Chairman  for  the  time  being  shall 
occupy  the  chair.  In  his  absence  a  Vice-Chairman  shall  occupy  the 
chair,  and  failing  a  Vice-Chairman  the  members  present  shall  elect 
some  other  of  their  number  to  act  as  Chairman  for  such  meeting. 
The  ruling  of  the  Chairman  shall  be  accepted  on  all  questions  of 
order  arising  at  any  of  the  meetings.  Any  member  rising  to  a  point 
of  order,  must  define  what  the  point  of  order  is,  and  submit  it  to  the 
Chairman  without  discussion.  All  members  addressing  the  Chair 
shall  do  so  standing. 

LIMITATION   OP   LENGTH   OF   SPEECHES 

2.  Except  at  the  discretion  of  the  Chairman,  no  member  shall 
speak  for  more  than  ten  minutes  except  the  member  moving  a  reso- 


496  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

lution  uliicli  jippciirs  upon  tlie  agenda,  who  sliall  \}('.  allowed  twenty 
minutes.  A  bell  sliall  be  rung  by  tlie  Chainnan  twf)  minutes  before 
the  time  expires.  When  the  time  has  exi)ired  the  bell  sliall  be  rung 
a  second  time,  and  thereupon  the  member  addressing  the  Council 
shall  at  once  resume  his  seat. 

MODE   OF   VOTING 

3.  The  votes  upon  all  questions  shall  be  taken  by  a  show  of  hands, 
except  in  cases  where  the  Rules  of  the  Council  or  these  orders  other- 
wise direct. 

PROPOSITIONS   TO   BE   MOVED   AND   SECONDED 

4.  No  proposition  or  amendment  shall  be  voted  upon  or  enter- 
tained by  the  meeting  but  such  as  have  been  moved  and  seconded 
and  delivered  to  the  Chairman  in  writing,  signed  by  the  mover,  and 
no  proposition  so  received  shall  be  withdrawn  unless  by  leave  of  the 
meeting. 

RIGHT  OP   REPLY 

5.  The  mover  of  a  proposition,  but  not  the  mover  of  an  amend- 
ment, shall  have  a  right  of  reply,  provided  always  that  a  member 
may  speak  to  a  point  of  order,  or  point  of  explanation.  The  proper 
time  for  an  explanation  is  at  the  conclusion  of  the  speech  which 
renders  it  necessary.  By  the  courtesy  of  the  member  in  possession 
of  the  House  such  explanation  may  be  given  earlier,  but  no  explana- 
tion can  be  given  unless  the  member  in  possession  of  the  House 
resumes  his  seat. 

AMENDMENTS 
ONLY  ONE  AMENDMENT  AT  ONCE 

6.  When  an  amendment  is  moved  upon  a  proposition,  no  second 
amendment  shall  be  moved  or  taken  into  consideration  until  the  first 
amendment  has  been  disposed  of. 

IP  AMENDMENT   CARRIED,  TO  BECOME  THE  QUESTION 

7.  If  a  first  amendment  be  carried,  it  shall  displace  the  original 
proposition  and  become  itself  the  question;  whereupon  any  further 
amendments  may  be  moved  in  succession  as  above  mentioned. 

IP   AMENDMENT   NEGATIVED,   OTHERS   MAY   BE   MO\'ED 

8.  If  the  first  amendment  be  negatived,  then  others  may  be  moved 
in  succession  upon  the  original  question  under  consideration,  but  so 
that  only  one  amendment  shall  be  submitted  to  the  meeting  for  dis- 


APPENDIX  H  497 

cussion  at  one  time;  and  after  the  disposal  of  all  amendments,  the 
question  shall  ultimately  be  put  upon  the  original  or  amended  propo- 
sition, as  the  case  may  be,  in  order  that  it  be  passed  or  negatived  as 
a  resolution. 

PRECEDENCE   FOR   A    MOTION 

9.  Any  member  who  has  given  notice  of  motion  may  rise  and 
propose  without  comment  that  precedence  be  given  to  such  motion. 
Such  proposition  shall  be  put  without  debate,  and  if  carried  such 
motion  shall  have  precedence. 

MEMBERS   NOT  TO  SPEAK   MORE  THAN  ONCE  TO  THE   SAME   MOTION 

10.  Members  shall  not  speak  more  than  once  to  the  same  motion, 
except  the  mover  of  the  proposition  in  reply,  which  reply  shall  con- 
elude  the  discussion,  and  in  such  reply  he  shall  not  be  allowed  tt) 
introduce  any  new  matter. 

REGULATIONS    AS   TO    SPEAKING   ON   AMENDMENTS 

11.  On  an  amendment  being  moved,  no  member  of  the  meeting 
who  has  spoken  on  the  original  question  shall  speak  again  thereon 
until  the  amendment  has  been  put  and  has  become  the  amended 
proposition  before  the  meeting. 

DISCUSSION    UPON    AMENDED    PROPOSITIONS 

12.  When  discussion  shall  arise  upon  amended  propositions,  the 
mover  of  the  amendment  which  has  displaced  the  original  proposi- 
tion may  speak  in  reply,  and  so  in  like  manner  with  respect  to  any 
further  and  displacing  amendments. 

MOTION    THAT   THE   QUESTION    BE   NOW   PUT 

13.  During  debate  any  member,  who  has  not  spoken  in  the  debate, 
may  propose,  without  preface,  that  the  question  be  now  put,  which 
the  Chairman  may  accept  at  his  discretion;  and  if  put  from  the 
Chair  it  shall  not  be  considered  carried  unless  supported  by  two- 
thirds  of  the  members  voting  on  the  occasion. 

ADJOURNMENTS 

14.  A  member  who  has  not  spoken  in  the  debate  may  move  at 
any  time  without  a  speech  either 

(a)  The  adjournment  of  the  meeting 
or 

(b)  The  adjournment  of  the  debate, 


11)8  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

which  may  be  accepted  by  the  Chairman  at  his  discretion  and  then 
put  without  debate. 

A  member  may  move  the  suspension  of  the  Standing  Orders  in 
order  to  call  attention  to  a  delinite  matter  of  urgent  importance. 
It  must  be  supported  by  not  less  than  two-thirds  of  the  members 
present.  Such  debate  shall  be  taken  at  once.  The  opener  shall  be 
allowed  ten  minutes,  and  subsequent  speakers  five  minutes.  The 
opener  shall  be  penuitted  to  reply. 

QUESTIONS 

15.  Questions  may  be  addressed  to  an  officer  of  the  Council,  to  a 
member  in  charge  of  a  motion,  or  to  the  Chairman  of  any  Com- 
mittee. 

The  Chairman  of  any  meeting  may  disallow  any  question. 

The  member  must  confine  himself  merely  to  asking  his  question, 
and  the  officer,  member  in  charge  of  a  motion,  or  Chairman  of  a 
Committee  to  simply  answering  it. 

RECORD   OF   ATTENDANCES 

16.  A  record  shall  be  kept  of  the  summonses  for  and  attendance 
of  members  at  meetings  of  the  Council  and  of  Committees,  and  such 
record  shall  be  presented  annually  to  the  Council  at  its  next  meeting 
after  30th  June  in  each  year. 

STBANGERS 

17.  Strangers  may  be  admitted  to  the  portion  of  the  hall  set 
apart  for  their  accommodation,  on  the  introduction  of  a  member. 

All  strangers  so  admitted  must  conform  to  the  following  rules: — 

1.  They  shall  not  express  any  assent  or  dissent. 

2.  They  shall  not  indulge  in  any  audible  conversation. 

3.  They  shall  at  all  times  be  seated  except  while  entering  or 
leaving  the  hall. 

4.  Any  person  infringing  any  of  these  rules  shall  be  called  upon 
to  withdraw,  and,  if  necessary,  shall  be  removed. 


APPENDIX  I 

NATIONAL  COUNCIL  OF  THE  POTTERY  INDUSTRY 

("THE  FIRST.WHITLEY  COUNCIL") 

Major    F.     H.    Wedgwood,     Chairman 
Mr.  S.  Clowes,  J.P.,  Viee-Chairman 


Mr.  a.  p.  Llewellyn,  Piccadilly,   Tunstall, 

Secretary  to  the  Manufacturers 

Mb.  a.  Hollins,  5a,  Hill  Street,  Hanley 

Secretary  to  the  Operatives 

NATIONAL  COUNCIL  OF  THE  POTTERY  INDUSTRY 


Objects  and  Constitution 


OBJECTS 


The  advancement  of  the  pottery  industry  and  of  all  connected 
with  it  by  the  association  in  its  government  of  all  engaged  in  the 
industry. 

It  will  be  open  to  the  Council  to  take  any  action  that  falls  within 
the  scope  of  its  general  object.  Its  chief  work  will,  however,  fall 
under  the  following  heads: — 

(a)  The  consideration  of  means  whereby  all  manufacturers  and 
operatives  shall  be  brought  within  their  respective  associa- 
tions. 

(b)  Regular  consideration  of  wages,  piecework  prices,  and  con- 
ditions with  a  view  to  establishing  and  maintaining  equitable 
conditions  throughout  the  industry. 

(c)  To  assist  the  respective  associations  in  the  maintenance  of 
such  selling  prices  as  will  afford  a  reasonable  remuneration 
to  both  employers  and  employed. 

(d)  The  consideration  and  settlement  of  all  disputes  between  dif- 
ferent parties  in  the  industry  which  it  may  not  have  been  pos- 
sible to  settle  by  the  existing  machinery',  and  the  establish- 
ment of  machinery  for  dealing  with  disputes  where  adequate 
machinery'  does  not  exist. 

(e)  The  regularization  of  production  and  employment  as  a  means 

499 


500  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

oi'  insuring,'  to  the  workpeople  the  greatest  possible  security  of 
earnings. 

(f)  Improvement  in  conditions  with  a  view  to  removing  all  danger 
to  health  in  the  industry. 

(g)  The  study  of  processes,  tlie  encouragement  of  research,  and 
the  full  utilization  of  their  results. 

(h)  The  provision  of  facilities  for  the  full  consideration  and 
utilization  of  inventions  and  improvements  designed  by  work- 
people and  for  the  adcfiuate  safeguarding  of  the  rights  of  the 
designers  of  such  improvements. 

(i)   Education  in  all  its  brandies  for  the  industry. 

(j)  The  collection  of  full  statistics  on  wages,  making  and  selling 
prices  and  average  percentages  of  profits  on  turnover,  and 
on  materials,  markets,  costs,  etc.,  and  the  study  and  promo- 
tion of  scientific  and  practical  systems  of  costing  to  this  end. 
All  statistics  shall  where  necessary  be  verified  by  chartered 
accountants,  who  shall  make  a  statutory  declaration  as  to 
secrecy  prior  to  any  investi^ation,  and  no  particulars  of  in- 
dividual firms  or  operatives  shall  be  disclosed  to  any  one. 

(k)  Inquiries  into  problems  of  tiie  industry,  and  where  desirable, 
the  publication  of  reports. 

(1)  Representation  of  the  needs  and  opinions  of  the  industry  to 
Government  authorities,  central  and  local,  and  to  the  com- 
munity generally. 

CONSTITUTION 

(1)  Membership. — The  Council  shall  consist  of  an  equal  number 
of  representatives  of  the  manufacturers  and  the  operatives;  the 
manufacturers'  representatives  to  be  appointed  by  the  Manufac- 
turers' Associations  in  proportions  to  be  agreed  on  between  them; 
the  operatives'  representatives  by  the  trade  unions  in  proportions 
to  be  agreed  on  between  them.  The  numl)er  of  representatives  on 
each  side  shall  not  exceed  30.  Among  the  manufacturers'  repre- 
sentatives may  be  included  sahiried  managers,  and  among  the  oper- 
atives' representatives  some  wcmu'n  operatives. 

(2)  Honorary  Members. — The  Council  to  have  the  power  to  co- 
opt  honorary  members  with  the  riglit  to  attend  meetings  or  serve  on 
committees  of  the  Council,  and  to  sj)eak  but  not  to  vote. 

(3)  Reappointment. — One-thij-d  of  the  representatives  of  the  said 
associations  and  unions  shall  retire  annually,  and  shall  be  eligible 
for  reappointment. 

(4)  Officers. — The  officers  of  the  Council  sliall  be: 

(a)   A   chairman   and   vice-chairman.     When   the    chairman   is   a 


APPENDIX  I  501 

member  of  the  operatives,  the  vice-chairman  shall  be  a  mem- 
ber of  the  manufacturers,  and  vice-versa.     The  chairman  (or 
in  his  absence,  the  vice-chairman)   shall  preside  at  all  meet- 
ings, and  shall  have  a  vote,  but  not  a  casting  vote.     It  shall 
always  be   open  to   the   Council  to   appoint   an  independent 
chairman,  temporary  or  otherwise, 
(b)    Such  secretaries  and  treasurers  as  the  Council  may  require. 
AH  honorary  officers  shall  be  elected  by  the  Council  at  its  annual 
meeting  for  a  term  of  one  year,  and,  subject  to  the  condition  that  a 
chairman  or  vice-chairman  from  the  said  associations  shall  be  suc- 
ceeded by  a  member  of  the  said  unions,  shall  be  eligible  for  re- 
election.    The  Council  may  from  time  to  time  fix  the  remuneration 
to  be  paid  to  its  oflBcers. 

(5)  Committees. — The  Council  shall  appoint  an  Executive  Com- 
mittee, and  Standing  Committees,  representative  of  the  different 
needs  of  the  industry.  It  shall  have  power  to  appoint  other  com- 
mittees for  special  purposes,  and  to  coopt  such  persons  of  special 
knowledge,  not  being  members  of  the  Council,  as  may  serve  the  spe- 
cial purposes  of  these  committees.  On  all  committees  both  manu- 
facturers and  operatives  shall  be  equally  represented. 

The  minutes  of  all  committees  shall  be  submitted  to  the  National 
Council  for  their  confirmation. 

Each  committee  shall  appoint  its  own  chairman  and  vice-chair- 
man, except  in  the  case  of  the  Finance  Committee,  over  which  com- 
mittee the  chairman  of  the  National  Council  shall  preside. 

(6)  Finance. — The  ordinary  expenses  of  the  Council  shall  be  met 
by  a  levy  upon  the  Manufacturers'  Associations  and  the  trade  unions 
represented.  Special  expenditure  shall  be  provided  for  by  the  Fi- 
nance Committee. 

(7)  Meetings. — The  ordinary  meetings  of  the  Council  shall  be 
held  quarterly.  The  annual  meeting  shall  be  held  in  January.  A 
special  meeting  of  the  Council  shall  be  held  on  the  requisition  of  ten 
members  of  the  Council.  Seven  days'  notice  of  any  meeting  shall 
be  given.  Twenty  members  shall  form  a  quorum.  Committees  shall 
meet  as  often  as  may  be  required. 

(8)  Voting. — The  voting  upon  all  questions  shall  be  by  sliow  of 
hands,  and  two-thirds  majority  of  those  present  and  voting  shall  be 
required  to  carry  a  resolution.  Provided  that,  when  at  any  meet- 
ing the  representatives  of  the  unions  and  the  associations  re- 
spectively, are  unequal  in  numbers,  all  members  present  shall  have 
the  right  to  enter  fully  into  discussion  of  any  matters,  but  only  an 
equal  number  of  each  of  such  representatives  (to  be  decided  amongst 
them)  shall  vote. 


50a  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

NATIONAL  COUNCIL  OF  THE  POTTERY  INDUSTRY 
["Sentinel"  Leading  Article,  .Jan.  15th,  191H.] 

The  National  Council  of  the  Pottery  Industry  is  now  an  estab- 
lished institution,  and  the  reports  of  the  inaugural  [proceedings 
which  have  appeared  in  the  "Sentinel"  during  the  past  few  days 
have  doubtless  been  read  with  cordial  appreciation  and  high  hopes 
not  only  by  everybody  connected  with  the  potting  trade  but  by  the 
general  public.  Major  Frank  Wedgwood,  who  was  elected  Chair- 
man on  Friday,  and  Mr.  S.  Clowes,  J. P.,  of  the  Potters'  Union,  the 
Vice-Chairman,  both  enjoy  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  employers 
and  employed  alike,  and  the  Council  is  so  composed  as  to  be  really 
representative  of  the  potting  trade  of  the  whole  country. 

There  is  all  the  more  expectation  of  success  because  the  sug- 
gestion of  the  Council  first  came  from  the  operatives.  Bristol  has 
for  a  long  time  been  a  center  of  vigorous  discussion  on  industrial 
and  social  reform  and  advancement,  in  which  Mr.  Arnold  Rowntree, 
M.P.,  Mr.  E.  H.  C.  Wethered,  and  Mr.  H.  Clay,  M.A.,  took  part. 
About  the  time  that  the  Government  appointed  the  Whitley  Com- 
mittee on  Reconstruction  after  the  War,  our  Bristol  friends  looked 
round  to  see  if  they  could  make  an  approach  to  any  special  in- 
dustry. Mr.  Clay,  who  has  constantly  lectured  for  the  Tunstall 
Tutorial  Class,  suggested  the  potting  trade,  and  representatives  of 
the  operatives  who  were  invited  to  a  conference  at  Lawton  Hall  liked 
the  idea  and  formulated  suggestions  which  were  placed  before  the 
manufacturers,  with  the  result  that  a  joint  meeting  at  Lawton  Hall 
before  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Council  which  has  now  been 
formed.  The  Whitley  Committee  was  meanwhile  proceeding  on 
similar  lines,  and  National  Councils  are  being  formed  for  other  in- 
dustries under  the  auspices  of  the  Whitley  Committee;  but  the  pot- 
ting trade  is  entitled  to  be  proud  of  the  fact  that  it  preceded  the 
Whitley  Committee  not  only  in  its  Interim  Report  but  in  forming 
the  first  of  the  National  Councils. 

The  National  Council  of  the  Pottery  Industry,  as  already  fully 
explained,  is  designed  to  regulate  wages  and  selling  prices,  pro- 
mote education  in  the  industry,  secure  improved  health  and  other 
conditions,  encourage  better  methods,  and  assist  Imperial  and  Muni- 
cipal authorities  in  arriving  at  sound  conclusions  on  trade  matters. 
In  brief,  the  National  Council  is  calculated  to  promote  peace  and 
plenty,  prosperitj'  and  happiness  in  the  potting  trade.  But  Dr. 
Addison,  M.P.,  Minister  of  Reconstruction,  and  Mr.  Roberts,  M.P., 
Minister  of  Labor,  kindly  accepted  an  invitation  to  attend  the  first 
meeting  of  the  Council  and  to  address  a  public  meeting,  and  in  the 


APPENDIX  I  503 

official  blessing  they  gave  to  the  inaugural  gatherings,  they  tre- 
mendously widened  the  outlook,  as  anybody  who  heard  or  has  read 
the  speeches  could  not  fail  to  perceive.  It  is  not  merely  a  matter 
of  advancing  the  conditions  of  the  industry  itself,  important  and 
vital  as  that  is.  Dr.  Addison  showed  that  the  reconstruction  of 
industry  and  the  nation  after  the  War  is  a  tremendous  and  essential 
problem,  involving  the  restoration  and  development  of  old  indus- 
tries and  the  creation  of  new  industries;  a  system  of  demobilization 
at  the  peace  which  shall  be  satisfactory  to  all  concerned,  changing 
over  from  war  conditions  to  peace  conditions  with  the  least  pos- 
sible friction  and  dislocation;  the  promotion  of  education  in  its 
widest  sense;  improved  housing;  the  regulation  of  imports,  so  that 
raw  material  may  be  given  precedence  over  imports  of  secondary 
importance — a  matter  of  delicate  and  far-reaching  concern,  upon 
which  much  will  depend;  and  so  on.  On  all  these  questions,  the 
Reconstruction  Department  of  the  Government  wishes  to  seek  ad- 
vice and  guidance  from  the  industries,  and  indeed  desires  that  the 
industries  should  act  for  themselves  as  far  as  possible  under  Gov- 
ernment supervision.  This  admirable  plan  can  only  be  carried  out 
if  the  industries  are  completely  organized — if  all  employers  are  in 
their  associations  and  all  workers  are  in  their  unions,  and  if  both 
are  able  to  act  together  and  speak  for  the  whole  industry  by  means 
of  a  National  Council  of  the  industry.  Fitting  into  a  scheme  of 
this  sort,  the  National  Council  of  the  Pottery  Industry  becomes  not 
only  a  Council  for  the  internal  management  of  the  potting  trade, 
but  an  organism  in  the  advancement  of  the  national  welfare. 

Mr.  Roberts,  the  Minister  of  Labor,  in  his  speeches  at  the  Council 
meeting  and  the  Victoria  Hall,  eloquently  dwelt  upon  the  need  for 
a  greater  humanizing  of  employment  conditions,  in  the  interests  not 
only  of  employers  and  employed,  but  of  healthy  trade  activity. 
Good  profits  and  good  wages  are  a  just  expectation  (though  Dr. 
Addison  warned  his  hearers  that  the  public  must  also  be  considered, 
and  that  an  industry  would  not  be  safe  if  its  customers  were  made 
poor) ;  but  Mr.  Roberts  and  Dr.  Addison  both  supported  the  asser- 
tion made  by  the  Bishop  of  Lichfield  in  the  Victoria  Hall  some  time 
ago  that  half  the  labor  troubles  were  not  due  to  wages  disputes  at 
all,  but  to  the  resentment  of  the  workers  if  they  were  regarded  by 
employers  as  "hands"  instead  of  human  beings  and  fellow-laborers 
in  a  common  cause.  The  National  Councils  will  do  much  to  effect 
a  remedy  in  that  respect.  And  some  of  the  sincerest  applause  at 
the  Victoria  Hall  on  Friday  evening  was  elicited  from  the  audi- 
ence of  workers  by  Mr.  Roberts'  declaration  that  if  employees  were 
fairly  treated  the  obligation  rested  upon  them  to  treat  their  era- 


604  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

ployers  fairly  in  return.     It  was  a  frank  and  thoroughly   English 
jnoment. 

Incidentally,  Mr.  Roberts  remarked  that  a  Government  Depart- 
ment could  scarcely  resist  the  united  voice  of  an  industry  on  fiscal 
or  other  similar  issues;  and  later  on,  he  was  emphatic  that  the  British 
Empire  and  our  Allies  have  the  first  claim  uptm  the  raw  materials 
of  the  Empire.  Both  Dr.  Addison  and  Mr.  Roberts  pointed  out 
that  winning  the  War  is  the  essential  preliminary  of  all  reform  and 
progress.  The  peroration  of  the  inaujjuration  of  the  National  Coun- 
cil was  found  in  the  speeches  at  Tunstall  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Tunstall  Tutorial  Class  during  the  week-end,  when  Mr.  Arnold 
Rowntree,  M.P.,  Mr.  Wethered,  and  Mr.  Clay,  who  had  been  co- 
opted  honorary  members  of  the  Council,  eloquently  urged  the  hu- 
mane and  religious  aspects  of  the  movement,  and  sought  to  rekindle 
into  a  living  flame  those  social  and  fraternal  relations  and  re- 
sponsibilities without  which  life  becomes  selfish  and  sordid,  while 
on  the  other  hand  tliere  is  the  certainty  that  in  working  for  others 
we  also  save  ourselves.  The  "still,  .'^ad  music  of  humanity"  has  in 
these  Pottery  Council  meetings  swollen  into  a  grander  tone,  and 
mystic  voices  chant  the  coming  of  a  nobler  and  a  happier  day. 

[Reprinted  from  the  "Staffordshire  Sentinel"  of  January   12th.   1918.] 
NATIONAL  COUNCIL  OF  THE  POTTERY  INDUSTRY 


INAUGURAL  MEETING 


Reconstruction  After  the  War 


Important  Speeches  by  Members  of  the  Government 


Future  of  the  Potting  Trade 


The  inaugural  meeting  of  the  National  Council  of  the  Pottery 
Industry  was  held  at  the  North  Stafford  Hotel,  Stoke-on-Trent,  on 
Friday,  January  11th,  1918. 

Members  of  the  Council 
The  members  of  the  Council  (thirty  on  each  side)  are  as  follows: 
manufacturers'  representatives 

General  Earthenware  (11) 
Mr.  J.  C.  Bailey — Messrs.  Doulton  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  Burslem. 
Mr.  K.  H.  Bailey — Messrs.  Fumivals,  Ltd.,  Cobridge. 


APPENDIX  I  505 

Mr.  C.  E.  Bullock — Bourner,  Bullock  and  Co.,  Bang's  Chambers, 
Stoke-on-Trent. 
Mr.  A.  Fielding — Fielding  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  Stoke. 
Mr.  R.  Lewis  Johnson — Messrs.  Johnson  Bros.  (Hanley),  Ltd. 
Mr.  E.  J.  Johnson — Johnson  Bros.  (Hanley),  Ltd.,  Stoke. 
Mr.  T.  B.  Johnston — Pountney  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  Bristol. 
Mr.  E.  Leigh — Burgess  and  Leigh,  Burslem. 
Mr.  A.  H.  Maddock — Messrs.  Maddock  and  Sons,  Burslem. 
Mr.  R.  Shenton — Wedgwood  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  Tunstall. 
Major  F.  H.  Wedgwood — Wedgwood  and  Sons,  Ltd.,  Etruria.  * 

China  (5) 
Mr.  W.  Hall — Cartwright  and  Edwards,  Ltd.,  Longton. 
Mr.  A.  B.  Jones,  Jun. — A.  B.  Jones  and  Sons,  Longton. 
Mr.  Thos.  Poole — Cobden  Works,  Longton. 
Mr.  P.  Shelley — Wileman  and  Co.,  Longton. 
Mr.  H.  J.  Plant— R.  H.  and  S.  L.  Plant,  Longton. 

Jet  and  Rockingham  (2) 
Mr.  S.  Johnson — S.  Johnson,  Ltd.,  Britannia  Pottery,  Cobridge. 
Mr.  A.  J.  Wade — Messrs.  J.  and  W.  Wade  and  Co.,  Burslem. 

Glazed  and  Floor  Tiles  (3) 
Mr.  J.  Burton — Messrs.  Pilkington  Tile  and  Pottery  Co.,  Ltd., 
Clifton  Junction,  near  Manchester. 

Mr.  S.  Malkin — Messrs.  the  Malkin  Tile  Works  Co.,  Ltd.,  Burslem. 
Mr.  S.  R.  Maw — Messsrs.  Maw  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  Jackfield. 

Yorkshire   (1) 
Mr.  T.  Brown — Messrs.  Sefton  and  Brown,  Ferrybridge. 

Scottish  Earthenware  Manufacturers'  Association  (1) 
Mr.  J.  Arnold  Fleming — Cochran  and  Fleming,  Glasgow. 

Stoneware  (1) 
One  to  be  appointed. 

Sanitary  (3) 
Mr.  E.  R.  Com— Henry  Richards  Tile  Co.,  Tunstall. 
Mr.  W.  Hassall — Messrs.  Outram  and  Co.,  Woodville. 
Mr.  J.  T.  Webster— Twyfords,  Ltd.,  Clifife  Vale,  Hanley. 

Fireclay  (2) 

Mr.  J.  Taylor  Howson — Messrs.  G.  Howson  and  Sons,  Ltd., 
Hanley. 

Mr.  A.  Barrett,  Sanitary  Fireclay  Manufacturers'  Association, 
Leeds. 


506  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Electrical  Fittings  (1) 

Mr.  J.  W.  Harris — Messrs.  Bullers,  Ltd.,  Hanley. 
operatives'  representatives 

Pottery  Workers'  Society — Messrs.  W.  Tunnicliffe,  W.  Aucock, 
W.  Shaw,  G.  Pedley,  W.  Machin,  W.  Goodwin,  T.  Coxon,  R.  Col- 
clough,  W.  Milner,  W.  Harvey,  K.  Stirratt,  W.  McGurk,  H.  Forman, 
J.  Wilcox,  J.  Booth,  S.  Clowes,  A.  Hollins. 

Ovenmen's  Society — Messrs.  J.  Pickin,  R.  Bennett,  J.  Bennett,  W. 
Oven,  W.  Callear,  F.  Colclough. 

Packers'  Society — Mr.  C.  Martin. 

Cratemakers'  Society — Messrs.  J.  Owen  and  L.  Jackson. 

Commercial  Travelers — Messrs.  S.  Oulsnam  and  J.  Derry. 

Clerks'  Union — Messrs.  J.  Berresford  and  Beech. 

Lithographic  Printers — Messrs.  F.  Smyles  and  H.  Rudge. 

It  will  be  seen  that  there  are  32  names,  but  two  of  these  will  be 
dropped  from  the  Pottery  Workers'  Society  when  they  make  the 
final  selection. 

Business  of  the  First  Meeting 
At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Council  on  Friday  afternoon,  Major 
Frank  Wedgwood  was  elected  Chairman  and  Mr.  S.  Clowes  Vice- 
chairman.  Mr.  Arnold  S.  Rowntree,  M.P.,  York;  Mr.  E.  H.  C. 
Wethered,  Bristol;  and  Mr.  H.  Clay,  M.A.  (Ministry'  of  Labor), 
who  held  conferences  with  pottery  manufacturers  and  labor  repre- 
sentatives even  before  the  Whitley  Committee  had  got  to  work,  and 
thus  helped  to  lay  the  foundations  of  the  Council,  were  coiipted  as 
honorary  members.  A  Committee  was  appointed  to  formulate  com- 
mittees. The  Committee  will  meet  on  February  1st,  and  the  first 
general  meeting  of  the  Council  will  be  held  on  February-  13th,  at 
10.30,  at  the  North  Stafford  Hotel. 

Two  members  of  the  Government,  Dr.  Addison,  M.P.,  Minister 
of  Reconstruction,  and  Mr.  Roberts,  Minister  of  Labor,  attended  to 
give  an  official  blessing  to  the  Council.  Their  speeches  dealt  not 
only  with  the  possibility  of  the  Council  promoting  peace  and  pros- 
perity in  the  pottery  trade,  but  with  the  great  help  such  Councils 
could  afford  the  Government  in  dealing  with  the  problems  of  de- 
mobilization and  reconstructing  and  developing  the  industries  of 
the  country  after  the  War. 

Those  present,  in  addition  to  those  mentioned  above  included  Mr. 
H.  B.  Butler,  Assistant  Secretary,  Ministry'  of  Labor;  Mr.  A.  P. 
Llewell.yn,  Secretary  to  the  Manufacturers;  Mr.  S.  H.  Dodd,  Deputy 
Secretary  to  the  Manufacturers;  and  Mr.  A.  Hollins,  Secretary  to 
the  Operatives. 


APPENDIX  I  507 

MAJOR  WEDGWOOD 

The  newly-elected  Chairman  (Major  F.  H.  Wedgwood)  said  it 
was  a  very  great  pleasure  to  all  of  them  to  feel  that  they  had  the 
honor  of  having  the  Minister  of  Reconstruction  and  the  Minister  of 
Labor  down  to  address  them  that  afternoon.  (Hear,  hear.)  He 
thought  they  would  find  that  they  were  an  appreciative  audience, 
and  he  felt  sure  that  what  they  told  them  would  help  them  ma- 
terially in  carrying  on  the  very  difficult  work  that  lay  ahead  of 
them.  (Hear,  hear.)  He  thought  that  before  he  asked  Dr.  Ad- 
dison and  Mr.  Roberts  to  address  them,  he  ought  to  try  and  bring 
home  one  or  two  points  which  occurred  to  him  as  worthy  of  their 
notice,  points  which  were  particularly  applicable  to  the  district 
in  which  they  lived. 

The  first  thing  that  occurred  to  him  as  being  peculiar  to  the  dis- 
trict, was  that  it  was  a  concentrated  industry  in  this  district.  There 
was  no  other  industry  so  far  as  he  knew  which  had  two-thirds  of 
the  total  products  of  the  United  Kingdom  being  manufactured 
within  a  radius  of  five  miles  from  the  room  in  which  they  were  as- 
sembled. (Hear,  hear.)  The  next  peculiarity  was  that  the  district 
was  a  district  of  relatively  small  factories,  and  there  was  in  eon- 
sequence  a  surprising  number  of  manufacturers.  And  the  third 
point,  which  was  a  very  sad  point  and  one  which  they  all  felt,  was 
that,  speaking  broadly,  the  whole  district  was  a  poorish  district. 
He  knew  he  must  not  say  that  this  week  when  the  Tank  was  on  a 
visit  in  the  district,  but  there  was  no  doubt  about  it,  the  potting 
industry  had  not  been  remunerative  to  the  manufacturers  for  the 
last  25  years.  He  was  speaking  broadly,  but  figures  would  bear 
him  out.  And  undoubtedly  inadequate  wages  had  been  paid  in  cer- 
tain departments,  the  especial  sufferers  being  the  women. 

RATEABLE  VALUE 

And  last  of  all  it  was  a  district  which  had  probably  the  lowest 
rateable  value  to  the  population,  of  any  other  district  in  England. 
Those  points  were  all  points  which  had  a  material  bearing  on  the 
work  of  that  National  Council.  In  the  first  place,  the  concentra- 
tion of  the  industry  was  an  enormous  help  to  them  in  carrying  it 
on.  They  were  all  very  proud  that  they  were  the  first  industry  to 
form  a  National  Council — (hear,  hear) — and  they  ought  not  to 
blink  at  the  fact  that  they  were  in  a  favorable  position  because  of 
the  concentration  of  the  industry. 

The  next  point,  the  question  of  small  factories,  had  also  a  very 
important  bearing  on  the  work  of  the  Council,  because  it  meant  that 


508  MAiNAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

manufacturers  and  their  workpeuple  were  able  to  get  into  close 
touch  one  with  the  other.  Then,  on  the  third  question  of  the  rela- 
tive poverty  of  the  district,  there  was  an  enormous  field  for  im- 
provement possible,  if  they  could  organize  themselves  properly. 
They  might  hope  to  benefit  the  trade  to  a  verj'  great  extent  indeed, 
because  after  all  that  Council  was  not  out  for  one  section  of  the 
members  only.  It  was  out  to  make  the  trade  more  prosperous,  and 
thereby  improve  the  status  of  the  people  who  worked  in  the  trade. 
(Hear,  hear.) 

THE   OUTCOME   OF   THE    WAR 

There  were  only  two  other  small  points,  and  he  thought  he  was 
saying  what  they  were  all  agreed,  that  one  result  of  this  terrible 
and  horrible  war  we  had  been  engaged  in  for  three  and  a  half  years 
had  been  undoubtedly  the  means  of  drawing  everybody  together 
in  a  way  we  never  thought  was  possible  four  years  ago.  He  re- 
membered two  years  or  more  ago,  when  he  was  well  out  of  the 
"pots"  for  the  time  being,  his  association  with  Mr.  Clowes  in  the 
work  of  recruiting,  and  of  the  kind  fellowship  that  sprung  up  be- 
tween them.  Good  fellowship  was  a  great  asset  to  the  side  of  a 
Council  of  that  kind.     (Hear,  hear.) 

Then  the  last  thought  which  was  in  his  mind  was  the  fact  that  we 
had  had  during  the  last  three  or  four  years,  our  eyes  astonishingly 
opened  to  the  foul  machinations  of  our  enemy  the  Germans.  He 
was  not  speaking  of  the  atrocities,  but  only  for  the  moment  of  the 
sustained  and  nefarious  efforts  they  were  undoubtedly  making  all 
over  the  world,  to  filch  our  trade  from  us  and  steal  from  us  market 
after  market.  We  could  see  it  all  now\  That  had  brouglit  home 
to  himself,  at  any  rate,  and,  he  thought,  to  the  district  at  large,  the 
great  necessity  of  cooperating  and  making  themselves  of  ser\'ice  one 
to  the  other.  He  thought  they  realized,  certainly  the  manufactur- 
ers realized  much  more  than  they  did,  and  the  men's  leaders  would 
say  the  same,  that  there  was  an  absolute  need  for  education  in  its 
widest  branches,  carried  on,  not  only  for  those  of  14  to  18,  but  that 
they  should  continue  educating  themselves  up  to  the  time  of  their 
death.  (Hear,  hear.)  He  hoped  they  were  going  to  have  an  edu- 
cative afternoon  and  evening,  and  he  had  pleasure  in  asking  Dr. 
Addison  to  address  the  members  of  the  Council.     (Loud  applause.) 


APPENDIX  I  609 

DR.  ADDISON,  M.P. 

Minister  of  Reconstruction 

Dr.  Addison  said  he  thanked  them  very  much  for  giving  him  an 
opportunity,  and  he  knew  his  colleague  would  do  the  same,  of  at- 
tending at  last  the  first  meeting  of  the  first  Joint  Industrial  Coun- 
cil. There  was  an  urgent  need  that  this  movement  should  make  in 
this  country  much  speedier  progress,  and  he  was  delighted,  al- 
though by  the  kindness  of  his  colleague  and  his  assistants  he  had 
been  kept  in  touch  with  the  progress  of  affairs,  that  at  last  they 
could  say  that  they  had  been  invited  to  the  first  fully  formed,  fully 
representative,  and  fully  recognized  Joint  Industrial  Council. 
(Hear,  hear.) 

He  believed  that  there  were  few  things  in  this  country  at  the  pres- 
ent moment  which  were  of  more  critical  importance  than  the  forma- 
tion, according  to  the  particular  needs  of  the  individual  trades,  of 
representative  trade  organizations,  of  complete  associations  of  mas- 
ters on  the  one  side,  and  of  men  on  the  other,  and  of  the  formation 
of  Joint  Industrial  Councils  for  such  affairs  as  the  Joint 
Industrial  Councils  might  agree  to  deal  with.  (Hear,  hear.) 
But  particularly  in  relation,  in  the  first  place,  to  some  of  those  mat- 
ters which  would  immediately  become  urgent  on  the  cessation  of 
hostilities.  And  he  told  them  that  as  the  time  dragged  on,  and  those 
movements  made  what,  to  him,  at  all  events,  was  a  very  disappoint- 
ingly slow  progress;  although  he  knew  how  very  very  difficult  it 
was,  and  when  one  had  a  knowledge  of  the  enormous  dislocation  of 
industry  that  would  immediately  arise  on  the  cessation  of  hostilities, 
he  said  it  was  of  the  first  importance  that  Joint  Councils  of  em- 
ployers and  employed  should  get  together  in  this  country  to  regard 
their  industry  as  a  whole,  to  take  into  account  the  great  movements 
which  must  necessarily  arise  in  labor  immediately  hostilities  cease, 
and  to  some  extent  even  on  the  declaration  of  armistice;  all  the 
many  questions  which  needed  arranging  beforehand  affecting  the 
introduction  of  outside  labor,  the  making  room  for  the  men  who 
had  joined  the  forces  whose  places  were  kept  for  them,  the  ar- 
ranging between  themselves,  if  possible,  the  way  in  which  the  sub- 
jects were  to  be  dealt  with  between  employers  and  employed,  or  in 
some  trades  those  very  technical  questions  affecting  dilution,  and 
the  numberless  arguments  which  were  being  made  in  shops,  and 
sometimes  between  trades  and  Government  with  regard  to  the  con- 
ditions of  war  work.  Unless  these  things  were  dealt  with,  and 
thought  out  carefully  by  those  who  were  immediately  concerned  in 
the  different  trades  beforehand,  they  would  be,  he  was  certain,  pre- 


510  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

cipitated  into  serious  social  and  industrial  disturbances.  And  it 
was  not  possible  to  exaggerate  the  importance  of  these  matters  be- 
ing taken  in  iiand  and  considered  in  detail  by  those  wiio  were  im- 
mediately in  contact  with  tliera  as  soon  as  possible,  and  for  that 
reason,  more  than  any  other,  he  congratulated  them  with  his  whole 
heart  in  forming  that  Council,  and  he  sincerely  wished  them  good 
success  in  its  deliberations. 

THE   GOVERNMENT    BLAMED 

It  was  a  very  easy  thing  to  blame  the  Government  when  things 
went  wrong,  and  some  of  them  who  were  accustomed  to  being  mem- 
bers of  it,  were  quite  accustomed  to  being  the  objects  of  that  kind 
of  criticism,  and  far  be  it  from  him  to  pretend  that  a  good  deal  of 
it  was  not  thoroughly  justified.  He  did  not  know  any  way  to  sug- 
gest that  those  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  affairs  were  not  fully 
prepared  to  accept  their  share  of  the  responsibility,  but  there  waa 
a  great  share  of  responsibility  also  belonging  to  the  employers  and 
to  the  workpeople  of  this  country  as  well.  And  the  first  duty,  he 
believed,  of  employers  was  to  form  in  the  different  trades  classified, 
as  its  needs  might  determine,  comprehensive  employers'  associa- 
tions. 

He  believed  it  was  necessary  for  the  future  well-being  and  rapid 
restoration  of  the  productive  power  of  this  country  that  every  em- 
ployer should  be  in  his  association  and  every  workman  in  his  trade 
union.  (Hear,  hear,  and  applause.)  And  he  would  tell  them  some 
very  good  reasons  why,  in  the  course  of  the  few  minutes  that  he 
should  address  them.  They  were  anxious,  in  fact  it  was  necessary 
very  soon  to  ask  some  representative  body  in  the  different  trades 
to  advise  them  and  to  guide  them — and  if  possible  to  act  as  their 
agents — in  respect  of  important  matters  concerning  their  industry 
which  arose  in  connection  with  reconstruction. 

REPRESENTATIVE  ASSOCIATIONS 

But  the  fact  was  that  except  in  a  few  cases  there  were  not  in  this 
country  properly  appointed  fully  representative  trade  organizations. 
He  could  tell  of  many  trades  in  which  there  were  four  or  five  asso- 
ciations, all  claiming  to  be  fully  representative;  and  the  Government 
Minister  who  happened  to  call  a  meeting  and  missed  one  out  soon 
heard  about  it.  That  was  a  very  unsatisfactory  state  of  affairs. 
They  had  overcome  it  in  the  potterj'  trade.  Wliether  that  was  due 
to  them  being  so  much  collected  in  one  district  or  not,  he  did  not 
know.     That  must  have  contributed  a  good  deal,  but  still  it  had 


APPENDIX  I  611 

not  been  done,  he  was  quite  sure,  without  a  good  deal  of  good-will 
and  hard  work  on  both  sides,  because  the  mere  fact  that  the  Chair- 
man referred  to — that  the  trade  consisted  to  a  great  extent  of  a 
large  number  of  relatively  small  undertakings — presented,  he  should 
think,  the  first  great  difficulty.     (Hear,  hear.) 

We  were  all  strongly  individualistic — most  of  us  were  in  the 
British  race — and  whether  a  man  was  a  workman  or  an  employer, 
or  a  politician,  he  had  got  that  kind  of  thing  in  his  blood.  And 
we  were  all,  sometimes,  very  jealous  of  one  another,  so  that  it  was 
exceedinjily  difficult  to  bring  about  comprehensive  associations.  He 
might  say  that  in  connection  with  the  work  of  reconstruction  tlie 
Government  would  definitely  call  upon  this  National  Council  to  give 
them  certain  information  and  to  undertake  certain  duties.  And 
with  regard  to  paragrapli  L.  contained  in  the  articles  of  associa- 
tion, the  Government  would  take  them  at  their  word  as  being  com- 
petent to  represent  the  needs  and  opinions  of  their  industry  to 
Government  authorities.     (Hear,  hear.) 

ONE  RECOGNIZED   AUTHORITY 

"And  let  me  say  we  shall  not  only  take  you  at  your  word,  but 
we  shall  take  only  you  (applause)  ;  when  you  say  you  represent 
those  needs  and  opinions,  we  shall  take  it  that  you  do  represent 
Lhem."  (Hear,  hear.)  Dr.  Addison  went  on  to  say  that  when  he 
was  Minister  of  Munitions,  he  often  caught  it  hot — (laughter)  — 
because  he  had  not  consulted  somebody  or  other.  Well,  one  ex- 
pected that  kind  of  thing  when  one  was  Minister  of  Munitions.  He 
did  not  mind;  he  did  the  best  he  could.  He  remembered  once,  in 
one  particularly  large  industry,  there  was  a  very  important  Labor 
issue.  There  were  five  organizations  among  the  employers  in  that 
industry,  and  it  took  six  weeks  to  get  a  meeting  of  employers  to 
negotiate  on  that  issue  which,  though  a  big  issue,  was  a  simple  one. 
It  was  a  very  depressing  experience,  and  it  was  not  alone. 

Apart  from  these  details  in  their  articles  of  association,  to  which 
possibly  his  colleague  might  refer  more  fully,  he  would  deal  with 
one  or  two  matters  in  connection  with  reconstruction  which  necessi- 
tated the  formation  of  comprehensive  trade  associations.  He  ex- 
pected Mr.  Roberts  would  deal  with  the  more  particular  labor  is- 
sues. He  himself  would  only  refer  to  one.  He  believed  that  it 
was  of  the  first  importance  that  as  soon  as  possible  there  should  be 
agreement  reached  in  the  different  trades,  whereby  they  could  sweej) 
away  any  objections  on  the  part  of  labor  to  the  introduction  of  im- 
proved methods  of  manufacture.     (Hear,  hear.) 


512  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

LAHOlt's    liKWAKD 

And  there  were  two  things  underlying  that  which  he  believed  had 
got  to  be  fairly  and  frankly  met,  and  tiie  first  one  was  that  Labor 
was  to  be  assured  of  a  definite  arrangement,  binding  on  the  whole 
industry,  whereby  it  would  be  guaranteed  a  lair  proportion  of  the 
reward  received  out  of  the  improvement.  (Hear,  liear.)  That 
was  essential.  (Hear,  hear.)  Anything  which  left  that  question  to 
be  dealt  with  could  not  possibly  remove  the  objection  which  men 
must  entertain  if  they  felt  there  was  a  chance  of  some  piece  rate 
being  cut  or  some  arrangement  being  arrived  at  whereby,  though 
they  were  asked  to  produce  a  lot  more  goods  they  were  not  to  get 
any  more  money. 

Then  they  must  look  as  far  as  possible,  and  he  could  not  see  how 
they  could  do  it  without  regarding  the  trade  as  a  whole,  and  try  to 
secure  some  greater  surety  of  employment.  He  did  not  think  they 
could  do  that  in  individual  shops.  The  previous  day  he  received  a 
deputation  from  another  industry,  and  he  was  referred  to  a  state- 
ment which  had  been  made  on  behalf  of  that  industry,  that  it  was 
for  the  benefit  of  the  industry  that  there  should  be  a  certain  per- 
centage of  unemployment.  He  did  not  think  the  men  who  had 
fought  for  us  in  this  war  were  going  to  tolerate  a  barbaric  system 
of  that  kind.  (Hear,  hear.)  They  were  getting  over  it  in  the  cot- 
ton industry,  and  they  were  making  very  elaborate  arrangements  to 
meet  it  during  the  war;  and  he  did  not  think  for  a  moment  they 
would  despair  afterwards. 

RAW   MATERIAL   SUPPLIES 

The  first  thing  he  did  when  he  was  appointed  Minister  of  Recon- 
struction was  to  get  a  number  of  experts  to  go  into  the  question  of 
raw  material  supplies  for  the  industries  of  the  country.  That  was 
one  of  the  subjects  in  which  the  Government  needed  representative 
associations  to  help  them  in  regard  to  their  particular  industries. 
They  wanted  to  know,  not  in  general  terms,  but,  as  far  as  possible, 
en  bloc,  as  affecting  an  industry',  what  their  requirements  were 
with  respect  to  raw  materials.  And  he  could  tell  tJiem  that  they 
were  in  fact  asking  the  different  industries  what  their  requirements 
were  with  respect  to  raw  materials,  because,  either  from  shipping 
difficulties  or  from  the  cause  of  a  real  shortage  of  the  world's  sup- 
plies of  certain  commodities,  there  would  be  a  shortage  of  raw  ma- 
terials. 

It  was  quite  evident  that  there  would  be  some  industries  in  which 
so  far  as  affected  the  total  needs  of  the  industrv.  we  might  be  con- 


APPENDIX  I  513 

fronted  for  some  time  with  a  real  shortage.  The  trades  ought  to 
have  an  organization  to  deal  with  this  for  themselves.  (Hear, 
hear.)  If  there  was  to  be  any  rationing  done  in  an  industry,  it 
should  be  done  by  somebody  appointed  by  the  industry  to  do  it — 
(hear,  hear) — somebody  who  knew  about  its  technicalities  and  about 
the  various  issues  involved.  This  could  be  done  much  better  by 
the  trades  for  themselves  than  it  could  be  done  by  any  central  de- 
partment, and  it  had  this  incidental  advantage;  that  if  they  did 
not  do  it  properly,  they  would  have  themselves  to  blame,  and  not 
the  Government.     (Laughter.) 

A   QUESTION   OF   COST 

He  noticed,  by  the  way,  in  looking  through  a  very  excellent  volume 
issued  in  the  United  States,  on  pottery,  that  the  proportion  of  ma- 
terial utilized  out  of  100  units  of  production  in  the  British  pottery 
trade  was  put  down  as  28,  and  that  in  America  20,  and  in  Ger- 
many 15.  It  struck  him,  as  the  Chairman  was  speaking,  that  he 
should  think  this  would  be  one  of  the  first  questions  to  which  their 
Council  would  address  their  minds.  There  was  nothing  in  which 
comprehensive  trade  organization  dealing  with  the  thing  as  a  whole, 
both  from  the  standpoint  of  purchase,  and,  above  all,  of  transport 
— and  he  understood  that  this  was  one  of  their  weaknesses  in  that 
district — (laughter  and  ajoplause) — could  effect  greater  economies 
than  in  the  case  of  raw  materials.  He  knew  of  a  particular  case  in 
which  the  Ministry  of  Munitions  analyzed  the  cost  of  production 
as  compared  with  the  same  date  two  years  in  succession — the  same 
apparatus  and  the  same  raw  materials — and  notwithstanding  that  the 
wages  had  gone  up  15  per  cent,  for  the  men  employed  in  the  works, 
the  cost  of  production  had  dropped  22  per  cent.  That  had  been 
solely  due  to  a  careful  analysis  of  the  cost  of  production  and  the 
discernment  of  waste,  particularly,  in  this  case,  of  raw  material. 
Hence,  the  reduction  in  the  cost  of  production  had  allowed  an  in- 
crease in  the  wages  rate. 

There  was  another  even  more  urgent  reason  why  the  Government 
wanted  representative  trade  associations  to  help  them  in  connec- 
tion with  reconstruction.  In  the  ordinary  way,  the  employers  might 
be  looked  to  for  the  discharge  of  this  duty,  but  the  Government's 
principle  would  be  that  they  should  look  to  the  joint  industrial 
councils  to  discharge  any  functions  which  the  two  parties  to  a 
council  agreed  that  it  should  discharge.  Otherwise,  they  looked  to 
the  trade  unions  to  advise  them  on  their  questions  and  the  employ- 
ers on  theirs.  But  one  of  the  most  urgent  reasons  for  requiring 
representative  trade  associations  was  in  connection  with  the  class 


5U  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

of  questions  wliicli  tiiifjht  gt'iicrully  be  dcscriljed  as  prior  in  connec- 
tion wilii  reconstruction.  Tliere  would  be,  as  they  would  know,  a 
great  cessation  of  work  in  certain  lields  of  activity,  and  tlie  rapidity 
with  which  they  could  turn  over  to  the  new  kind  of  industr^v  de- 
pended upon  the  equipment  for  turning  over,  the  preparation  of 
tlie  necessary  plans  beforehand,  and  a  number  of  other  technical 
details. 

AN   ILLU.STRATION 

Let  him  give  them  an  illustration.  The  group  of  trades  with 
which  they  had  been  dealing  had  shown  to  them  quite  clearly  that 
unless  certain  essentials,  which  appeared  to  the  outsider  to  be  minor 
essentials,  were  attended  to  during  the  war,  the  time  of  turning  over 
from  war  to  peace,  after  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  in  a  particular 
trade,  would  be  three  months  longer  than  it  otlierwise  would  be,  and 
there  were  hundreds  of  thousands  of  people  employed  in  that  in- 
dustry in  one  town  alone.  So  that  it  was  necessary  for  those  con- 
cerned to  get  to  work,  and  think  out  what  were  the  things  that  were 
required  to  be  done  first. 

And  let  him  there  lead  to  something  which  was  very  much  mis- 
understood. There  was  a  Bill  before  Parliament  known  as  The 
Imports  and  Exports  Limitation  of  Movements  Bill.  He  would 
give  them  an  illustration  as  to  why  that  Bill  had  been  brouglit  for- 
ward. There  would  be,  as  he  said,  a  shortage  of  materials  in  some 
trades.  The  cotton  trade  was  short  of  material,  and  it  was  very  im- 
portant to  be  able  to  determine  as  to  whether  or  not  they  would 
have  cargoes  of  bales  of  cotton  giving  precedence  to  a  grand  piano. 
Let  them  put  it  grossly  like  that,  because  it  meant  giving  employ- 
ment to  the  people  in  the  Lancashire  trade.  They  must,  in  the  early 
days  of  reconstruction,  be  able  to  get  the  first  thing  first ;  otherwise 
it  would  mean  masses  of  unemployed,  and  they  wanted  the  trades, 
with  respect  to  their  particular  requirements,  to  advise  them  what 
were  the  things  they  needed  first.  If  they  needed  no  assistance, 
then  they  would  be  delighted.  In  ease  they  did  need  assistance,  it 
was  well  the  matter  should  be  thought  out  and  the  needs  formulated. 

THE  PRIORITY  QUESTION 

Now  he  would  give  them  a  specific  case  in  the  kind  of  question 
which  they  wanted  the  trades  to  advise  them  on.  There  were  many 
industries  in  this  country  which  were  full  of  orders,  and  they  would 
have  plenty  of  raw  material.  But  they  would  lack  ma- 
chinery. They  had  turned  over  their  works  to  something  quite 
different    from    their    ordinary    business.     And    the    first    require- 


APPENDIX  I  515 

ments  of  that  industry,  before  it  could  start  to  employ  its  people 
again,  was  the  replenishing  of  its  machinery.  Well  now,  it  so  hap- 
pened that  for  that  particular  class  of  machinery,  most  of  the 
manufacturers  of  this  country  were  already  full  of  orders  from  two 
foreign  countries  alone.  The  total  manufacturing  capacity  of  this 
country  of  that  particular  class  of  machinery  was  already  booked. 
Well  now,  did  they  not  see  where  the  necessity  came  in  for  the  in- 
formation on  the  priority  question?  (Hear,  hear.)  They  could 
not  let  the  great  industry  stand  still  waiting  for  machinery.  The 
matter  must  be  gone  into  beforehand,  and  they  must  take  powers 
to  arrange  that  it  got  a  fair  share  of  early  attention  in  order  to 
get  the  people  returned  to  employment.  He  only  gave  them  one 
illustration;  he  could  go  on  too  long  giving  them  illustrations  of  the 
kind  of  question  which  they  wanted  the  trades  to  advise  them  upon 
on  what  he  called  the  general  priority  issue.  There  was  a  large 
group  of  them,  and  no  doubt  in  time  they  would  send  to  that  Coun- 
cil a  questioner.  And  he  had  no  doubt  they  would  fill  it  up  to  their 
own  satisfaction  and,  he  also  hoped,  to  theirs. 

ARTICLES  OF  THE  ASSOCIATION 

But  when  they  sought  to  provide  great  trade  associations — and 
he  was  certain,  (juite  apart  from  the  immediate  issues  of  reconstruc- 
tion, they  were  wanted  if  they  were  to  improve  the  industrial 
capacity  of  this  country — they  had  got  to  think  over  some  of  the 
purposes  laid  down  in  their  articles  of  association.  And  might 
he  refer  to  one  or  two  of  them  before  he  passed  to  the  danger  to 
which  he  was  going  to  allude?  He  noticed  that  one  of  their  articles 
of  association  referred  to  the  study  of  processes,  the  encourage- 
ment of  research,  accounting  methods  and  so  on.  He  had  already 
said  something  as  to  the  value  of  cost  accounting  to  the  various  in- 
dustries. He  remembered  one  of  their  national  factories  in  York- 
shire was  producing  18  inch  shells  which  cost  15s.  3d.  each,  while 
another  factory  in  the  same  county  supplied  tlie  same  shells  at  9s. 
lid.  each.  Both  factories  were  supplied  with  the  same  material 
at  the  same  cost,  and  the  same  rates  for  labor  was  paid.  They 
eventually  got  the  price  in  the  first  case  reduced,  but  it  was  all  a 
matter  of  management,  aecurateness,  and  a  hundred  little  things 
which  went  to  make  the  difference.  But  if  the  two  factories  had 
been  competing  one  against  the  other,  the  one  could  not  have  lived 
beside  the  other.  That  was  what  came  of  good  accounting.  He 
could  multiply  those  illustrations  for  a  long  time. 

He  was  sure  it  was  a  very  wise  provision. 

And  another  thing  was  invention   and  research.     He  believed  it 


616  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

was  tmv  of  the  chief  blots  in  British  industrial  progress,  that  we 
never  made  sullicient  use  of  the  great  mine  of  wealth  and  brain 
that  there  was  in  the  craftsmen  of  this  country.  And  it  was  largely 
due  to  some  of  our  pattern  laws,  and  often  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
men  who  made  a  good  suggestion  somehow  or  other  never  got  any- 
thing out  of  it.  That  had  got  to  be  guarded  against,  and  it  was  to 
the  advantage  of  the  trade  as  a  whole  that  it  should  be  done.  ( Hear, 
hear.)  He  was  glad  to  see  they  took  into  account  the  conditions  of 
health  in  their  industry.  He  remembered  in  the  early  days  of  the 
Ministry  of  Munitions  starting  a  Good  Health  of  Munition  Workers 
Committee,  and  he  would  like  them  to  see  the  little  pamphlet  that 
was  issued  giving  the  results  of  some  of  the  examinations.  But 
there  was  no  doubt  about  it  that  it  was  best  to  have  women  work- 
ing under  good  conditions.  He  remembered  one  of  the  big  em- 
ployers in  Glasgow  laughing  with  him  over  a  certain  incident.  He 
said  he  was  giving  his  boys  an  extra  shilling  every  Monday  for  bring- 
ing a  clean  overall  to  wear.  Asked  the  reason,  the  employer  re- 
plied, "Well,  because  it  pays;  I  get  more  work  out  of  them."  He 
did  not  profess  there  was  anything  philanthropic  about  it;  he  said 
it  was  good  business.  He  had  found  out  that  it  paid  to  have  his 
workers  working  under  good  conditions.  It  paid  him  as  an  em- 
ployer, and  he  had  no  doubt  it  would  pay  them  in  the  Potteries. 
And  the  only  way  in  which  this  thing  could  be  gone  into  was  by  the 
industry  going  into  it  collectively. 

TRANSPORT  FACILITIES 

He  hoped  they  would  make  representation  to  the  Ministry  of 
Reconstruction  affecting  the  transport  facilities  as  they  related  to 
their  industry.  He  had  a  sort  of  notion  at  the  back  of  his  head 
that  might  be  improved  in  this  district.  (Hear,  hear.)  There  was 
one  danger  which  those  trade  associations  presented,  and  let  them 
speak  quite  frankly  about  it.  He  noticed  that  according  to  the 
objects  of  the  Council  they  were:  "To  assist  the  respective  associa- 
tions in  the  maintenance  of  such  selling  prices  as  will  afford  a  rea- 
sonable remuneration  to  both  employers  and  employed."  That  was 
quite  right;  they  both  ought  to  have  a  proper  remuneration.  No 
healthy  condition  of  industry  could  prevail  if  they  did  not.  But 
he  noticed  also  that  was  linked  up  with  another  object,  which  was: 
"The  collection  of  full  statistics  on  wages,  making  and  selling  prices, 
and  average  percentages  of  profits  on  turnover,  and  on  materials, 
markets,  costs,  etc.,  and  the  study  of  promotion  of  scientific  and 
practical  systems  of  costing  to  this  end."  And  he  would  draw  their 
attention  to  another  part  of  that  transaction,  and  that  was  the  con- 


APPENDIX  I  517 

sumer.  (Hear,  hear.)  They  did  not  want  to  be  parties  to  the 
formation  of  some  unholy  alliance,  if  he  could  so  describe  it,  be- 
tween capital  and  labor  at  the  expense  of  the  consumer,  because  that 
would  not  last.  It  did  not  pay  any  industry  to  have  its  customers 
poor,  and  it  would  not  pay  the  pottery  industry  any  better  than 
any  other,  and  it  was  quite  impossible,  of  course  for  him  as  Minister 
of  Reconstruction  to  look  with  any  kind  feeling  upon  arrangements 
of  that  kind.  They  wanted  to  construct  an  association,  as  they  said 
in  their  articles,  on  lines  which  would  develop  and  foster  the  in- 
dustry in  all  its  branches  and  which  would  he  had  no  doubt  deal 
with  and  take  cognizance  of  its  affairs  from  start  to  finish.  He 
meant  from  the  raw  material,  where  it  came  from,  how  to  deal  with 
the  marketing,  transport,  etc.,  until  the  finished  product  was  dis- 
posed of  in  the  best  and  most  economical  manner.  One  of  the  things 
they  intended  to  take  up  in  their  industries  was  improved  trans- 
port, and  he  hoped  some  time  or  other  they  would  see  better  things 
than  a  dozen  horses  and  carts  going  from  one  village  to  the  railway 
station,  each  conveying  a  stone  or  two  of  goods.  It  was  a  waste  of 
time,  of  labor  and  of  money.  They  wanted  some  organization  in 
transport,  and  he  would  imagine  it  was  just  as  necessary  in  the 
potting  industry,  although  he  knew  nothing  about  its  technicalities, 
as  it  was  in  every  other  industry  he  had  come  across  in  the  country. 

FOR  THE  BENEFIT  OF  TRADE 

Now,  he  only  had  to  say  this.  While  they  intended — Mr.  Roberts' 
recent  circular  set  out  the  position  of  the  Government — to  recog- 
nize, and  having  recognized  to  work  through  and  to  give  the  utmost 
possible  authority  and  support  to  any  thoroughly  representative  and 
properly  constructed  trade  organization,  they  wanted  to  help  them, 
and  they  wanted  them  to  help  them  and  also  to  help  the  trade. 

And  let  it  be  quite  clear  that  when  they  spoke  of  trade  organiza- 
tions, they  meant  something  which  was  for  the  interest  and  the  bene- 
fit of  the  trade  as  a  whole,  including  purchases  of  its  goods.  They 
did  not  want  the  country  to  be  saddled  with  organizations,  trusts,  or 
price  rings,  as  they  were  variously  called,  as  they  had  been  a  great 
handicap  to  industry  in  many  countries,  including  this  one.  He 
had  asked  a  number  of  experts  on  both  sides  to  explore  the  whole 
of  this  question,  with  a  view  to  safeguarding  the  public  interests  in 
connection  with  this  movement.  And  when  he  said  this — it  was 
much  better  to  be  quite  frank  about  it — he  said  it  because  he  wanted 
to  see  in  this  country  comprehensive  trade  associations;  and  they 
would  not  get  them  established  and  permanent  unless  they  had 
public  confidence  and  unless  they  were  found  to  be  for  the  good  of 


618  xMANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

the  trade  as  a  whole,  as  he  helived  theirs  was.  He  welcomed  these 
organizations.  He  congratulated  tliera  upon  the  establishment  of 
their  Council,  and  he  wished  t(j  thank  them  for  giving  him  the  op- 
portunity of  being  present  at  its  first  meeting.     (Applause.) 

MR.  ROBERTS,  M.P. 


Minister  of  Labor 

Mr.  Roberts,  who  was  very  cordially  received,  obsened  at  the 
outset  of  his  remarks  that,  like  his  colleague,  he  should  like  to  ex- 
press his  profound  pleasure  at  being  invited  to  attend  the  first  meet- 
ing of  the  first  Whitley  Council  formed  in  the  country.  He  con- 
gratulated them  upon  the  formation  of  the  Council,  but  his  presence 
there  was  tinged  with  one  slight  regret.  When  he  worked,  he  was 
connected  with  the  printing  trade,  and  he  had  had  an  ambition  that 
the  first  Whitley  Council  should  be  established  in  the  trade  in  which 
he  used  to  earn  his  livelihood,  and  if  it  be  that  he  had  to  acknowl- 
edge that  the  pottery  trade  moved  much  more  swiftly  and  had  ex- 
hibited a  greater  progressive  idea  than  the  printing  trade,  well, 
probably  it  was  the  highest  tribute  he  could  pay  to  their  assembly. 
Personally,  he  esteemed  it  something  more  than  a  privilege  to  be 
present  in  order  to  participate  in  a  very  interesting  ceremony,  be- 
cause the  establishment  of  that  Council  marked  the  consummation 
of  a  principle  he  had  desired  to  see  established  in  the  country. 

Most  of  them  who  were  acquainted  with  industrial  affairs  viewed 
with  grave  apprehension  the  relationshiji  of  industrial  classes  before 
the  war.  It  almost  appeared  as  if  we  had  erected  a  Chinese  wall 
between  the  employers  and  the  employed.  They  were  being  more 
and  more  divorced  from  each  other.  That  was  a  state  of  affairs 
that  could  only  lead  to  national  disaster.  And  whilst  everj-body 
regretted  the  outbreak  of  this  horrible  war,  nevertheless  the  war 
had  not  been  altogether  a  matter  of  loss,  because,  as  the  Chairman 
had  said,  at  least  one  great  thing  had  been  accomplished.  At  the 
outbreak  of  war,  it  seemed  almost  as  if  a  miracle  was  wrought  in  the 
land  for  those  who  had  been  glaring  at  eacli  other  were  preparing 
to  make  war  on  each  other,  but  in  a  trice  all  sank  their  differences 
to  display  to  the  whole  world  one  of  the  most  remarkable  evidences 
of  unity  for  the  nation.  Everybody  recognized  that  in  the  face  of 
great  danger,  disunity  in  our  midst  meant  national  defeat. 

A  CLOSE  ANALYSIS 

He  was  of  the  opinion  that  what  was  essential  for  the  purpose  of 
prosecuting  and  winning  the  war  would  prove  to  be  equally  essential 


APPENDIX  I  519 

in  the  troublous  days  that  would  follow  the  war.  For,  however 
optimistically  we  might  view  things,  the  close  student  of  industrial 
affairs  would  have  noted  that  Great  Britain  was  gradually  lagging 
behind  her  great  competitors  of  the  world.  The  war  had  compelled 
us  to  subject  our  industrial  conditions  to  very  close  anal^'sis.  The 
result  of  some  of  these  investigations  had  been  cited  to  them  by  his 
friend,  Dr.  Addison,  and  now  they  were  going  to  ask  themselves 
whether  the  lessons  which  had  emerged  through  the  war  were  to  re- 
main with  them  in  the  years  that  were  ahead.  And  certain  as  it 
was  that  our  country,  subjected  to  perhaps  the  supremest  test  to 
which  people  had  ever  been  put,  bad  risen  superior  to  this  test  in 
the  matter  of  warfare,  he  was  confident  that  the  same  quality  would 
carry  us  through  the  industrial  test  after  the  war,  and  our  country 
would  retain  its  proper  position  of  eminence  amongst  the  nations  of 
the  world. 

But  if  we  were  to  do  that,  we  must  recognize  that  just  as  the 
world  could  never  progress  unless  peace  was  established  on  a  firm 
and  enduring  basis,  so  industry  in  the  land  would  never  flourish  un- 
less harmony  prevailed  amongst  the  various  elements  working  in 
that  industry.  Therefore,  they  recognized  that  some  change  had 
to  take  place  in  order  to  remove  that  strained  relationship  which 
characterized  industry  prior  to  the  war.  They  Ifad  sought  to  find 
methods  v/hereby  the  various  parties  in  industry  might  be  persuaded 
to  come  together  in  order  to  thrash  out  matters  affecting  not  the  in- 
dividual welfare  of  any  one,  but  that  broad  view  outlined  by  Dr. 
Addison,  to  apprehend  the  industry  as  a  whole.  Some  of  them 
had  been  engaged  in  canvassing  this  question  in  various  forms,  and 
they  were  delighted  when  the  Government  set  up  a  committee  which 
produced  what  was  known  as  the  Whitley  Report. 

AN  ENCOURAGING  RECEPTION 

This  report  was  submitted  to  the  various  organizations  of  work- 
people and  employers  throughout  the  country,  and  its  reception 
was  most  encouraging.  He,  himself,  was  most  agreeably  surprised 
to  find  how  receptive  both  classes  were  in  respect  of  this  matter. 
The  Cabinet  felt  they  were  warranted  in  giving  their  blessing  to 
this  movement,  and  that  day  they  in  that  room  were  publicly  asso- 
ciated with  a  movement  which  marked  the  industrial  salvation  of 
the  land. 

Why  was  it  that  the  relationship  had  been  so  unsatisfactory?  He 
sometimes  had  told  employers  that  it  was  not  altogether  tlie  fault 
of  the  workpeople,  because  they  had  left  them  to  be  talked  at  mainly 
by  parsons  and  politicians — not  altogether  very  desirable  types  when 


520  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

dt'aling  witli  indusLrial  all'airs.  (Laughter.)  But  there  it  was. 
Tlie  workman  had  very  often  got  it  into  his  mind  that  the  em- 
ployer simply  regarded  him. as  a  means  of  proHt-makiug;  and  cer- 
tainly, owing  to  a  new  form  of  industrial  organization  which  had 
grown  up,  some  workmen  had  very  good  reasons  for  thinking  so. 
The  spread  of  great  combines  and  the  impersonal  relationships 
which  thereby  prevailed,  led  great  masses  of  workpeople  simply  to 
regard  themselves  as  cogs  in  a  great  wheel,  unheeded  by  those  on 
whose  behalf  they  were  toiling.  That  sort  of  thing  was  bound  to 
create  unrest. 

How  widespread  that  unrest  was  most  of  them  were  familiar  with 
in  a  more  or  less  degree.  We  had  got  to  uproot  that  disturbance 
if  reconstruction  was  to  be  hastened,  if  we  were  speedily  to  repair 
the  ravages  of  war  and  if  Great  Britain  was  not  to  be  handicapped 
for  all  time  in  the  great  race  of  world  trade  and  commerce. 

employers'  frank  acceptance 

They  knew  what  their  Whitley  Council  was.  It  was  representa- 
tive of  the  trade  unions  on  the  one  hand  and  employers'  organiza- 
tions on  the  other,  and  personally,  as  a  trade  union  and  Labor 
agitator  of  now  more  years  than  he  cared  to  recall,  he  was  delighted 
to  have  evidence  of  the  frank  acceptance  on  behalf  of  the  employers 
of  the  pottery  trade  of  the  i^rinciple  of  organization,  and,  as  exem- 
plified on  behalf  of  the  workpeople,  a  full  recognition  of  their  trade 
union.  The  trade  union  in  the  pottery  trade  had,  he  believed,  made 
very  rapid  growth  during  the  past  few  years.  Nevertheless,  it  was 
a  most  unsatisfactory  state  of  affairs  that  not  above  one-third  of 
the  people  employed  in  the  industry  were  within  the  ranks  of  the 
trade  union.  Certainly  the  employers'  displeasure  should  no  longer 
be  a  deterrent.  He  knew  that  many  people  were  kept  outside  their 
trade  union  fearful  lest  their  employer  might  not  like  it,  and  yet  at 
the  same  time  they  were  the  most  vociferous  in  singing  ''Britons 
never  shall  be  slaves."  (Laughter.)  The  potting  trade  had  now 
avowed  to  the  whole  world  that  both  sides  recognized  that  the  prin- 
ciples of  organization  were  absolutely  essential  to  the  progress  of 
the  industry.  The  Whitley  Councils  were  based  upon  organization 
on  both  sides,  and  if  people  wanted  to  get  such  advantages  as  would 
ensue  from  this  movement,  they  could  get  them  very  freely;  the 
workpeople  had  only  to  join  their  organization  and  if  an  employer 
was  standing  outside  his  organization  he  (the  speaker)  felt  sure 
that  he  would  be  just  as  readily  admitted. 


APPENDIX  I  521 

THE  WHITLEY  COUNCIL 

Well,  now  they  were  hopeful  and  the  Government  desirous  that 
the  Whitley  Council  should  not  be  regarded  merely  as  an  expedient 
for  relieving  labor  troubles  and  that  they  would  not  exhaust  their 
endeavors  in  dealing  with  wages,  hours  of  labor,  or  conditions  of 
employment.  They  were  essential  things,  and  he  recognized  that 
unless  those  questions  were  satisfactorily  settled,  the  future  of  the 
Council  was  not  very  hopeful.  He  wanted  to  see  for  every  willing 
worker  in  the  land  a  wage  of  ample  dimensions.  Not  merely  what 
was  talked  of  in  the  phrase,  a  living  wage.  Personally,  he  was  not 
prepared  to  state  what  was  a  living  wage.  He  could  tell  them  what 
was  not  very  easily,  and  he  had  to  confess  that  large  groups  of 
workers  before  the  war  were  in  receipt  of  remuneration  which  did 
not  agTee  to  his  standard  of  a  living  wage.  A  wage  which  simply 
supplied  the  needs  of  the  week,  was  not  a  living  wage.  A  man 
must  be  given  a  wage  with  a  sufficient  margin  to  enable  him  to  make 
provision  for  all  the  vicissitudes  of  life,  and  he  felt  by  the  institu- 
tion of  a  Council  of  that  character,  that  by  friendly  negotiations, 
that  by  being  able  to  put  wages  in  its  proper  perspective  and  rela- 
tion in  the  whole  interest  of  the  industry,  they  would  gradually, 
it  might  be,  grope  their  way,  but  nevertheless  they  would  ultimately 
arrive  at  a  standard  which  more  correctly  reached  the  standard  which 
he  had  in  mind. 

There  were,  of  course,  many  considerations  affecting  their  daily 
life.  Dr.  Addison,  of  course,  quite  naturally  made  reference  to  the 
consideration  of  health  and  sanitation.  He  was  not  competent  to 
speak  of  those  matters  in  relation  to  the  potting  industry,  but  the 
approbation  with  which  his  observations  were  received,  encouraged 
him  to  believe  the  employers  in  that  district  recognized,  with  him, 
that  the  conditions,  that  the  environment  in  which  they  worked, 
would  very  largely  determine  the  spirit  of  their  work  and  the  ef- 
ficiency that  was  evolved  from  it.  But  they  were  asking  them  to 
recognize  that  the  peoples  of  that  Council  represented  an  ever  ex- 
panding vista;  they  wanted  them  to  take  cognizance  of  trade  as  a 
whole. 

GOVERNMENT  OWNERSHIP 

There  were  friends  of  his  who  were  urging  that  the  Government 
should  immediately  assume  ownership  of  control  of  all  forms  of 
industry.  On  hearing  them  speak,  lie  presumed  they  regarded  them- 
selves perfectly  qualified  to  manage  on  behalf  of  the  State  the  most 
complex  forms  of  industry.  Well,  at  any  rate,  he  had  had  this  ad- 
vantage.    He  had  had  some  slight  business  training.     He  managed 


522  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

two  husinossos  before  lie  soup^ht  the  easy  and  luxurious  form  of 
f!^etting  a  livelihood  of  a  professional  politician,  and  therefore  he 
could  appreciate  the  employers'  point  of  view.  And  he  wanted 
to  tell  his  fellow  workmen  that  the  employers  had  their  difficulties 
as  well  as  they.  Trade  did  not  fall  to  them  just  as  rain  fell  from 
the  heavens.  It  had  to  be  sought  for  and  competed  for,  and  unless 
they  could  get  it  they  did  not  win  profits,  nor  did  the  workers 
secure  employment  and  the  wages  tliJit  accrued  from  their  labor. 
They  would  see,  therefore,  that  whilst  it  was  very  easy  to  talk  about 
ownership  and  control  of  industries  it  was  perhaps  not  quite  so 
simple  as  the  orator  might  imagine.  (Hear,  hear.)  But  even  if 
they  had  those  aspirations,  he  respectfully  submitted  that  the  Whit- 
ley Council  might  be  regarded  as  a  university  througli  which  they 
"would  graduate.  And  he  was  certain  that  as  they  learned  more  of 
the  conditions  of  their  industry,  certainly  it  would  be  that  they 
would  be  endowed  with  a  keener  sense  of  responsibility,  and  he 
rather  apprehended  that  the  great  enthusiasm  which  inspired  them 
to  make  the  broader  demand  might  simmer  as  the  experience  came 
to  them. 

In  this  new  departure  the  workmen  would  have  an  advantage  they 
never  previously  possessed.  They  would  come  into  close  touch  with 
employers,  and  the  latter  would  get  to  know  the  workmen's  point 
of  view  first  hand,  and  they  would  see  and  learn  from  the  work- 
men's representatives  that  the  workmen  were  just  like  the  employers 
— human  beings,  with  a  desire  for  a  brighter  and  fuller  life,  and 
who  were  filled  with  just  as  intense  a  love  for  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren. And  when  the  employers  understood  the  workmen  and  knew 
their  aims  and  aspirations — well,  perhaps  they  would  even  sympa- 
thize with  those  who  complained,  because  in  their  ignorance  they 
felt  the  employer  might  be  the  enemy  standing  between  them  and 
the  fuller  life.  Employers  on  the  one  hand  would  get  to  understand 
the  workmen  better,  and  the  employer  would  recognize  the  fact  that 
he  was  charged  with  a  duty  to  do  the  best  possible  for  those  he 
took  into  his  service.  For  his  ow-n  part,  if  he  were  an  autocrat,  if 
they  gave  him  as  much  power  in  this  country  as  the  Kaiser  had  in 
Germany  one  of  the  things  he  would  do  as  soon  as  he  had  won  this 
war  would  be  to  lay  down  this  very  simple  formula,  "No  man  shall 
take  into  his  service  a  fellow-man  unless  he  is  able  and  willing  to  re- 
ward him  with  a  full  living  wage."  Of  course,  that  was  directed 
against  the  employer.  Now  against  the  workman  he  would  say, 
"No  workman  shall  be  allowed  to  take  up  employment  at  wages  less 
than  those  agreed  by  the  test  of  a  living  wage."  And,  he  believed, 
if  he  were  able  to  apply  that  single  formula,  he  would  have  done 


APPENDIX  I  523 

something  to  add  great  glory  to  the  traditions  of  the  race  to  which 
we  were  proud  to  belong.  Those  were  the  standards  he  believed 
that  they  would  still  be  able  to  evolve  out  of  their  deliberations. 

THE  SHORT  CUT  TO  UTOPIA 

Of  course,  they  must  not  come  into  the  Whitley  Council  thinking 
it  would  establish  an  automatic  Utopia.  Such  things  could  not  be. 
And  those  who  sought  to  delude  their  fellowmen  into  believing  that 
there  was  one  single  panacea  which  could  be  applied,  which  could 
take  them  out  of  this  imperfect  order  of  things  immediately  into 
a  perfect  paradise — well  it  reminded  him  of  the  story  of  the  young 
man  who  got  lost  while  cycling  along  a  dark  country  road.  Ulti- 
mately he  got  to  what  appeared  to  be  a  sign  post  silhouetted  in  the 
darkness.  The  young  man  took  his  lamp  off  his  bicycle  and  climbed 
up  the  post  only  to  find  the  words.  "Wet  paint."  (Laughter.)  And 
thus  it  would  happen  that  if  the  masses  of  the  people  listened  to 
those  who  promised  them  a  short  cut  to  Utopia — well  then  they 
would  find  they  had  been  led  into  the  portals  of  a  forlorn  hope,  and 
would  have  to  retrace  their  steps  and  return  to  the  more  matter  of 
fact  methods  of  the  Whitley  Council. 

Those  Councils  had  almost  unlimited  possibilities.  Dr.  Addison 
had  lifted  the  veil  and  shown  them  some  of  them.  He  had  told 
them  of  the  great  work  they  might  be  called  upon  to  undertake  in 
the  process  of  demobilization,  and  what  greater  work  could  men 
apply  themselves  to?  According  to  the  manner  in  which  we  were 
able  to  settle  those  splendid  soldiers  of  ours,  so  would  the  future 
spirit  of  industry  be  determined.  If  we  were  unable  to  return  them 
to  regular  employment,  well  then  they  would  experience  a  sense  of 
regret,  and  ask  us  what  they  had  been  fighting  for.  We  wanted  to 
show  them  we  were  going  to  spend  as  much  concern  about  returning 
them  to  civil  life  as  we  spent  in  persuading  them  to  enlist  into  those 
wonderful  armies  which  had  constituted  one  of  the  world's  wonders. 
(Applause.)  He  believed  that  in  this  district,  as  well  as  in  many 
other  districts,,  employers  had  solemnly  undertaken  to  reinstate  many 
of  our  soldiers.  Dr.  Addison  and  himself  rejoiced  to  know  that 
approximately  60  per  cent,  of  our  soldiers  had  such  promises. 
(Hear,  hear.)  Many  men  were  being  discharged  day  by  day,  and 
he  had  pleasure  in  acknowledging  this  fact  that  up  to  the  jiresent 
the  employers  had  fulfilled  their  undertakings  in  complete  and  most 
honorable  fashion.  (Applause.)  And  they  believed  that  would 
be  so  throughout  the  whole  of  demobilization,  but  there  would  be 
many  other  questions  to  consider  arising  out  of  this  war. 


524.  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

THE  TRAINING  OF  MEN 

There  was  the  training  of  men.  They  were  concerned,  of  course, 
in  educational  matters.  (Hear,  hear.)  They  were  going  to  give 
special  consideration  to  invention  and  research  questions.  (Hear, 
hear.)  Wliy?  Because  they  understood  that  in  future  tlie  efficiency 
of  the  individual  workman  would  be  a  world-wide  test,  and  after  all 
he  thought  they  were  able  to  say  that  we  had  sufi'orcd  a  good  deal 
in  past  years  because  of  our  neglect  of  the  educational  side  of  in- 
dustry. (Hear,  hear.)  He  had  no  desire  simply  to  see  a  man  made 
a  perfect  workman.  He  wanted  him  to  be  a  good  workman  and  a 
good  citizen.  But  he  recognized,  whilst  he  was  anxious  for  the 
highest  possible  form  of  educational  development,  he  also  wanted 
to  see  workmen  having  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  technical 
skill,  in  order  that  they  might  prove  to  be  what  the  British  workmen 
had  hitherto  showm,  the  best  and  most  efficient  workmen  by  the 
test  of  either  quality  or  quantity  in  production.  And  after  the 
war  they  would  find  that  the  necessity  for  increased  production 
would  be  keener  perhaps  than  any  of  them  appreciated.  There 
were  some  in  their  midst  who  felt  that  those  of  them  who  talked 
about  large  output  were  simply  concerned  to  gull  the  workman  into 
producing  a  great  deal  of  wealth  for  the  benefit  of  others  than 
themselves.  He  told  his  friends  that  much  more  wealth  must  be 
produced  after  the  war  if  this  country  had  to  liquidate  its  war  in- 
debtedness, and  to  embark  on  that  great  policy  of  expansion  which 
was  necessary  if  we  were  to  provide  security  for  every  family  in 
the  land,  and  whilst  he,  as  a  trade  unionist,  recognized  that  some  of 
the  restrictions  we  had  imposed  were  to  be  justified  in  all  times, 
there  were  other  restrictions  which  were  not  so  defendable  in  the 
national  interest. 

MINIMUM  STANDARD 

And  it  was  in  a  Council  like  that  that  they  would  be  able  dispas- 
sionately to  reveal  these  matters  and  if  there  were  restrictions  which 
could  not  be  defended,  then  the  workman  would  be  prepared  to  re- 
move them  providing  he  got  some  compensation  for  the  things  he 
would  be  called  upon  to  remove.  He  wanted  to  see  a  minimum 
living  standard  for  every  worker  in  the  land,  and  over  and  beyond 
that  perfect  latitude  whereby  through  the  exercise  of  additional 
skill  or  acquired  experience  the  workman  might  be  fully  rewarded 
and  thus  be  a  source  of  profit  to  the  community.  Let  them  banish 
from  their  minds  the  idea  that  wages  ought  to  be  depressed  to  the 
lowest  limit.     (Hear,  hear.) 


APPENDIX  I  525 

Let  every  workman  be  encouraged  to  earn  as  much  as  possible, 
for  by  that  means  something  would  be  done  to  increase  the  efficiency 
of  all  classes,  and  it  would  contribute  in  a  substantial  degree  to  the 
stability  of  the  country.  Dr.  Addison  had  pointed  out  to  them 
many  other  things  they  ought  to  undertake,  and  it  ought  to  be  very 
encouraging  to  them  to  know — having  Dr.  Addison's  assurance  rein- 
forced by  his  own — that  in  the  future  the  Government  intended  to 
recognize  these  Councils  as  a  medium  to  which  they  would  turn  for 
the  purpose  of  getting  guidance  in  all  matters  affecting  these  in- 
dustries. Whether  it  be  legislatively  or  administratively,  these 
bodies  would  take  an  important  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  nation 
in  time  to  come. 

AN  AUTHORITATIVE  VOICE 

He  was  sure  that  if  they  could  get  a  powerful  authoritative  voice 
coming  from  a  particular  industry,  even  if  the  things  they  asked 
for  happened  to  be  heterodox  or  happened  not  to  compare  with  the 
fiscal  policy  of  the  party  in  power,  well,  no  Government  could  ignore 
the  voice  of  a  trade  like  the  pottery  trade.  The  united  voice  of  in- 
dustry could  ask  for  anything.  He  hailed  the  establishment  of  that 
Council,  not  merely  because  it  represented  an  idea  he  liad  long  held, 
but  because  it  would  remove  from  the  cockpit  of  party  politics  many 
questions  of  industry  and  we  should  be  able  to  look  at  them  not  from 
the  point  of  view  of  party  but  from  the  standpoint  of  each  par- 
ticular industry. 

And  so  he  said  that  if  bodies  like  that  made  a  representation  to 
any  Government  with  which  he  was  associated,  whatever  the  con- 
templated changes  were,  he  would  recognize  they  were  right  and 
desirable,  because  those  in  the  industries  were  most  competent  to 
judge  of  the  interests  of  those  industries.  (Hear,  hear.)  He 
viewed  with  very  great  pleasure  the  establishment  of  bodies  of  that 
character,  because  they  would  help  to  remove  from  the  enervating 
atmosphere  of  party  politics  many  things  which  needed  to  be  placed 
in  their  proper  perspective  and  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
best  interests  of  industry,  so  long  as  they  could  be  squared  with  the 
interest  of  the  community  as  a  whole. 

AFTER- WAR  SHORTAGE 

Dr.  Addison  had  made  reference  to  certain  important  inquiries, 
on  which  he  would  desire  to  consult  them  after  the  war.  He  had 
pointed  out  that  owing  to  the  war  and  the  withdrawal  from  industry 
in  all  the  belligerent  countries  of  all  classes  of  people,  there  must 
be  a  considerable  shortage  of  materials  requisite  for  industrial  af- 


526  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

fairs,  and  that  tliat  would  rcfiuire  tliat  Dr.  Addison,  through  his 
Department  would  ai)peal  for  industry  to  continue  under  some  form 
of  State  control  for  a  limited  period.  Some  of  them  were  hoping 
that  it  would  be  a  very  limited  period,  but  they  were  all  reconciled 
to  the  fact  that  there  must  be  some  control  for  a  period  after  the 
war.  Dr.  Addison  had  also  shown  to  thera  that  this  shortage  of 
material  would  require  a  measure  of  rationing  in  most  industries, 
and  he  ayreed  with  him  that  those  engaged  in  the  industry  were  the 
people  best  (jualified  to  undertake  this  very  delicate  task.  Certainly 
they  could  do  it  better  than  any  Government  Department. 

If  it  was  that  an  industry  was  unwilling  to  establish  a  Council 
of  that  character,  then  the  task  of  rationing  would  have  to  be  un- 
dertaken, and  the  Government  would  have  to  do  it,  whereas  the 
Government  had  expressed  a  willingness  and  a  desire  that  the  peo- 
ple in  the  industries  should  do  it  for  themselves.  He  thought  they 
"would  find  that  these  Councils  were  endowed  with  great  responsi- 
bilities, and  that  they  were  fraught  with  great  possibilities.  In 
fact  he  would  be  a  bold  man  and  require  prophetic  vision  to 
place  any  limitation  to  the  possibilities  of  Councils  of  that  char- 
acter. He  thought  these  bodies  would  become  more  and  more  woven 
into  the  fabric  of  the  future  State. 

THE  RIGHT  END 

He  was  certain  they  were  beginning  at  the  right  end,  that  right 
end  being  the  promotion  of  a  better  understanding^  the  establish- 
ment of  a  more  perfect  relationship  between  employers  and  em- 
ployed. He  made  the  prediction  tiiat  those  who  had  come  together 
in  the  pottery  trade  into  this  movement  would  never  regret  that 
venture,  and  would  look  back  to  that  day  as  a  red  letter  day  in  the 
history  of  the  industry.  (Hear,  hear.)  He  wanted  to  add  one 
further  word.  Let  not  the  employers  on  the  one  hand  nor  the  work- 
people on  the  other  think  that  the  mere  establishment  of  that  Council 
ended  all  their  difficulties.  They  had  simply  fashioned  the  ma- 
chine that  might  lighten  their  difficulties. 

They  might  clear  many  obstacles  from  their  path,  but  it  was  only 
proportionately  as  they  were  able  to  knit  themselves  together  and 
to  prove  that  their  respective  interests  overlapped  one  another, 
and  that  there  was  no  sharp  line  dividing  employers  and  employed, 
and  that  the  recognition  of  each  was  necessary  to  the  other,  and  that 
the  interests  of  each  had  properly  to  be  safeguarded — then,  if  they 
did  that,  though  Dr.  Addison  and  himself  might  not  live  to  see  the 
fruition  of  the  whole  of  their  labors,  he  honestly  believed  that  when 
Dr.  Addison  and   himself  cleared   the   political   stage,  they   would 


APPENDIX  I  527 

recognize  that,  having  been  privileged  to  be  associated  with  the  first 
meeting  of  that  Council,  they  were  in  at  the  beginning  of  a  great 
movement,  which  would  ultimately  effect  a  better  industrial  relation- 
ship throughout  the  land.  In  that  way  they  would  also  be  asso- 
ciated in  placing  the  country  on  a  firmer,  fairer,  juster  basis  for  all 
time.     (Loud  applause.) 

MB.  TUNNICLIFFE 

Mr.  W.  Tunnicliffe  (President  of  the  National  Pottery  Workers' 
Society)  proposed  a  vote  of  thanks  to  Dr.  Addison  and  Mr.  Roberts, 
and  referred  to  their  speeches  as  instructive  and  inspiring.  He  said 
that  Dr.  Addison  need  not  have  any  concern  about  them  crushing 
the  consumer,  because  the  potting  industry  could  even  now  com- 
mence to  pay  a  decent  living  wage  and  a  fair  profit  to  those  engaged 
in  the  industry,  without  the  consumers  greatly  feeling  the  ^pinch. 
He  wanted  to  suggest  that  seeing  that  that  was  the  birth  of  the  Na- 
tional Council,  Dr.  Addison  and  Mr.  Roberts  should  be  recognized 
as  its  godfathers,  and  whenever  they  had  any  important  things  to 
place  before  the  Government,  it  would  be  possible  for  them  to  make 
their  presence  felt  on  the  Council's  behalf.  (Hear,  hear.)  He 
hoped  that  tlie  interest  in  evidence  that  day  was  only  an  earnest  of 
the  spirit  that  was  going  to  pervade  the  mdustrial  Council  in  con- 
nection with  the  potting  industry  in  the  years  to  come. 

MR.  J.   C.  BAILEY 

Mr.  J.  C.  Bailey  said  that  in  this  district  they  had  an  Arbi- 
tration and  Conciliation  Board  in  existence  for  some  40  years.  It 
was  true  tiiere  had  been  short  breaks,  but  even  in  those  times  the 
rules  that  had  governed  that  board  had  been  largely  operative.  They 
had  had  many  disputes  and  many  difficulties  to  settle,  but  they  had 
generally  been  settled  not  by  strikes  and  lock-outs,  but  by  a  cross 
table  conference  between  employers  and  men.  What  had  brought 
the  National  Council  into  existence  was,  in  a  large  measure,  the  fact 
that  the  bulk  of  the  principal  firms  in  the  district  had  been  members 
of  the  Manufacturers'  Association,  and  they  had  invariably  attended 
the  meetings  themselves.  On  the  other  hand,  the  whole  of  the 
leaders  of  the  employees  had  been  men  who  thoroughly  understood 
what  they  were  talking  about,  and  at  some  time  or  other  earned  their 
livelihood  in  the  industry  itself.  When  he  told  Dr.  Addison  and 
Mr.  Roberts  that  a  dozen  in  the  potting  trade  sometimes  comprised 
72  articles,  and  that  one  article  might  count  as  two  dozens — 
(laughter) — they  would  understand  that  the  men  who  discussed  the 
various   differences    had   to    know   what   they   were    talking    about. 


628  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

(Hear,  lioar.)  That  liad  all  rrfafcfl  tlio  atmosphere  which  on- 
ablcd  their  good  friends  Mr.  Rowntree,  Mr.  Wethered,  Mr.  Clay,  and 
the  Master  of  Balliol  to  advise  them  with  regard  to  that  Council, 
and  they  owed  it  to  them  that  North  Staffordshire  had  V^een  the  first 
to  form  a  National  Council.  (Hear,  hear.)  He  was  proud  the 
Council  had  been  formed,  and  tliey  intended  to  pull  all  together  in 
the  future.  (Hear,  hear.)  There  was  one  wonl  of  warning,  and 
that  was  to  ask  for  the  virtue  of  patience.  They  had  launched  that 
day  a  vessel,  they  had  appointed  a  crew,  and  they  had  certain  ports 
at  which  to  call.  Now,  they  might  not  make  those  ports  as  quickly 
as  some  would  think  they  ought  to  do,  but  let  them  have  patience, 
and  so  long  as  they  were  making  progress,  let  them  go  on  with  the 
scheme  and  he  believed  eventually  they  would  get  there.  (Hear, 
hear.)  In  offering  to  those  gentlemen  who  took  up  that  scheme  their 
thanks,  he  hoped  that  they  would  be  able  to  look  back  in  years  to 
come  and  not  be  sorry  for  their  presence  that  day  and  in  giving  to 
them  the  benefit  of  their  addresses.     (Applause.) 

The  resolution  was  carried  with  loud  acclamation. 

Dr.  Addison  said  both  Mr.  Roberts  and  himself  thanked  them  very 
much  indeed.     He  need  not  say  more.     (Applause.) 

INTERESTING   PRESENTATIONS 

The  Chairman  said  that  concluded  the  meeting,  and  they  now  pro- 
ceeded to  an  interesting  little  function.  It  was  felt  that  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Council  would  like  to  make  a  presentation  to  Mr.  Rown- 
tree, Mr.  Wethered,  and  Mr.  Clay  for  the  valuable  work  they  had 
done  in  connection  with  the  formation  of  that  Council.  He  asked 
Mr.  Rowntree's  acceptance  of  a  basalt  bowl  and  two  jasper  vases, 
Mr.  Wethered's  acceptance  of  two  jasper  cases  of  the  "Dancing 
Hours,"  and  Mr.  Clay's  acceptance  of  a  china  tea  set  and  a  bust  of 
Scott  in  basalt  ware. 

Loud  applause  followed  each  presentation. 

MR.  ROWNTREE 

Mr.  Arnold  Rowntree,  M.P.,  responding  in  acceptance  of  the  gift 
presented  to  him,  said  that  the  suggestion  of  the  joint  Council  did 
not  come  from  Mr.  Wethered,  Mr.  Clay  and  himself,  as  had  been 
stated.  It  came  first  of  all  from  that  gathering  of  the  operatives 
at  Lawton  Hall,  and  he  and  his  friends  were  simply  the  vehicles 
by  which  the  suggestion  came  before  the  manufacturers,  who  cor- 
dially accepted  it.  Then  they  all  came  together  at  Lawton  Hall 
and  made  the  actual  arrangements  for  carrying  the  matter  to  its 
present  stage.    He  thought  the  two  right  honorable  gentlemen,  to 


APPENDIX  I  529 

whom  they  had  listened  with  so  much  interest,  would  agree  that 
that  was  exactly  the  way  they  liked  things  to  happen;  that  it  was 
better  for  such  a  movement  to  be  the  spontaneous  wish  of  the 
trade,  rather  than  there  should  be  any  undue  pressure  exerted  from 
the  center. 

It  was  important  to  remember  that  it  was  spontaneous  because 
to  him,  at  any  rate,  that  was  such  a  justification  of  the  greatness 
of  the  general  principles  of  the  Whitley  report.  When  he  had 
listened  to  them  for  four  and  a  half  days  discussing  this  question, 
he  was  certain  when  he  saw  the  Whitley  report,  afterwards,  that  it 
was  founded  on  true  and  correct  principles,  because  he  had  seen  it 
evolved  by  them.  He  did  hope  that  the  spirit  in  which  the  Council 
had  been  formed  would  pervade  its  future  deliberations.  (Hear, 
hear.)  It  was  essential  that  whilst  they  must  look  to  increased  pro- 
duction, and  all  that  kind  of  thing,  still  it  was  essential  that  we 
should  not  let  the  material  side  of  commerce  submerge  us,  but  that 
all  along  we  should  remember  that  we  were  dealing  with  human  per^ 
sons,  and  that  what  we  wanted  was  not  merely  the  large  amount, 
but  the  production  of  real  human  citizens. 

TRIBUTE  TO   CHAIRMAN 

He  believed  that  the  result  of  the  Council  would  be  that  they 
would  have  a  far  greater  pride  in  their  industry,  and  that  they 
would  have  a  far  greater  pride  in  the  Potteries  as  a  whole.  He  did 
not  forget  that  their  Chairman  was  sitting  in  the  right  place.  He 
bore  an  honored  name,  which  had  made  the  Staffordshire  pottery 
industry  famous  all  over  the  world.  (Hear,  hear.)  Nor  did  he 
forget  that  it  was  Major  WedgTvood's  happy  chairmanship  at  the 
employers'  meeting  that  got  them  over  many  difficulties,  and  he 
was  delighted  to  think  that  Major  Wedgwood  was  now  in  the 
chair,  presiding  at  that  first  Council  meeting,  and  to  think  that  the 
Council  was  going  to  have  the  benefit  of  his  personality  and  his 
wise  guiding  spirit.  He  thanked  them  for  their  most  generous 
present,  and  he  could  tell  them  that  all  through  his  life  he  should 
treasure  it  as  one  of  the  pleasantest  and  happiest  gifts  he  had  ever 
received.  He  hoped  his  uproarious  children  would  not  break  the 
"jars"  but  that  they  would  go  down  to  further  generations.  (Laugh- 
ter and  applause.) 

Mr.  Wethered  said  he  should  value  the  vases  very  deeply.  The 
three  days  he  spent  at  Lawton  Hall  marked  an  historic  occasion,  and 
he  took  it  as  a  great  honor  that  they  should  have  appointed  him 
an  honorary  member  of  that  Council.  He  believed  they  had  taken 
the  first  definite  step  forward  in  a  great  policy.     They  were  to  be 


530  .ma\a(;i:mi:\'1'  and  mi:n 

conj^ratulalcd  ikjI  only  in  i\>nnin<^  the  lirst  Xational  Council  but  in 
anticipating  the  Whitley  report  by  two  months.     (Applause.) 

Mr.  Clay  said  it  had  been  a  privilege  to  be  associated  with  the 
members  of  the  Council.  The  idea  of  the  Council  was  sound,  but 
it  was  to  be  regretted  that  it  had  taken  the  war  to  teach  them  that 
they  must  consolidate  their  forces  to  meet  with  success  in  the  future 
and  to  deal  properly  with  the  industrial  problems  that  arose.  It 
was  essentially  the  first  step  of  reconstruction.  He  heartily  thanked 
them  for  the  presents  they  had  so  kindly  given  him.     (Applause). 

The  members  of  the  Council  then  adjourned  for  dinner  prior  to 
the  evening  meeting  at  the  Victoria  Hall,  Hanley. 


APPENDIX  J 

TRADE  PARLIAMENTS 

Why  They  Should  Be  Formed 

AND 

How  TO  Form  One  in  Your  Trade 


An  Explanation  of  the  Whitley  Report 
TRADE  PARLIAMENTS 

THE    reconstruction    OF    INDUSTRY    BY    INDUSTRY    ITSELF 

The  writer  who  desires  to  think  accurately  on  trade  questions 
must  start  with  tliree  simple  propositions.  In  the  first  place,  almost 
the  whole  duty  of  the  British  nation  after  the  war — Government  and 
people  alike — may  be  summed  up  in  the  phrase  "Political  and  In- 
dustrial Reconstruction."  With  the  vast  issues  involved  in  political 
reconstruction  this  pamphlet  has  nothing  directly  to  do.  It  is  worth 
while  to  remember,  however,  that  the  task  of  rebuilding  the  political 
fabric  of  the  British  Empire  will  be  greatly  simplified  if  merchants 
and  manufacturers,  business  men  and  working  men,  can  reach  some 
broad  basis  of  agreement  about  social  and  economic  reconstruction. 
The  purely  political  work  of  our  statesmen  will  be  much  easier  if 
the  industrial  and  trading  classes  shoulder  the  main  burden  of  in- 
dustrial reconstruction  themselves.  It  is  the  work  of  these  classes 
to  prepare  schemes,  suggest  policies  and  discuss  possible  lines  of 
development,  leaving  to  the  Government  and  Parliament  in  the  main 
the  simpler  task  of  putting  their  plans  and  ideas  into  final  legisla- 
tive form. 

THE  PROBLEM    IS    URGENT 

Secondly,  the  business  of  industrial  reconstruction  is  urgent.  It 
cannot  wait.  So  essential  is  it  to  come  to  an  early  understanding 
about  the  main  principles  of  industrial  policy  that  even  while  the 
book  of  the  war  is  still  unfinished  it  is  necessary  to  write  the  first 
few  chapters  in  the  book  of  peace.     To  be  ready  for  peace,  we 

531 


532  MANAGEMENT  AM)  MEN 

niusf  prcpjirc  duriti^  war.  Unless  our  sr-licincs  for  industrial  re- 
construction arc  well  un(i(!r  way  when  p(;aee  is  declared,  our  in- 
dustrial f'onipetitors  may  eiisily  steal  a  march  on  us,  and  a  golden 
opportunity  be  lost  forever. 

INDUSTRY   RESPONSIBLE  FOR   ITS   OWN  DEVELOPMENT 

In  the  third  place,  while  industrial  reconstruction  will  be  the  work 
of  many  minds,  the  direct  contribution  it  is  in  the  power  of  manu- 
facturers and  workpeople  to  make  towards  this  great  undertaking 
cannot  be  over-rated.  The  statesman  can  help  the  matter  forward 
by  his  administrative  ability,  his  power  to  see  all  sides  of  national 
life  and  to  blend  the  valuable  parts  of  historical  tradition  with  the 
economic  requirement  of  the  new  national  environment.  The  ideal- 
ist can  help  it  forward  by  his  dreams  of  a  perfected  industrial  State. 
But  the  principal  task  must  lie  in  the  hands  of  the  practical  men  of 
affairs,  who  have  built  up  our  great  national  trades,  who  are  familiar 
alike  witli  the  present  industrial  situation  and  with  the  needs  of  the 
new  industrial  era  on  which  we  are  entering.  Each  trade — that  is 
to  say  the  brain  and  manual  workers  in  each  trade — has  got  a 
sphere  of  almost  incalculable  importance  in  creating  the  new  in- 
dustry of  the  future. 

THE  WHITLEY  REPORT 

It  is  because  these  facts  have  been  growing  on  the  consciousness 
of  the  country  that  the  Whitley  Report  has  aroused  such  intense  in- 
terest. In  the  United  Kingdom  it  has  been  hailed  with  enthusiasm 
in  every  quarter.  It  has  many  ardent  supporters.  It  has  few  open 
or  avowed  enemies.  In  Germany  the  prospect  of  British  manufac- 
turers adopting  the  principles  of  the  Whitley  Report  is  apparently 
viewed  with  considerable  disquietude.  A  leading  newspaper  in 
South  Germany,  the  "Miinchner  Neueste  Nachrichten,"  recently 
said,  in  an  article  on  the  Report :  "The  attempts  made  by  the  Eng- 
lish to  reform  industry  deserve  consideration  by  us  also,  since  in 
the  great  struggle  after  the  war  that  nation  will  certainly  come  off 
best  which  carries  over  unimpaired  from  the  war  period  into  peace 
the  ideal  of  work  for  the  common  good,  and  which  takes  due  SjC- 
count  not  only  in  politics  but  in  the  organization  of  industry,  of  the 
self-consciousness  of  the  people  which  has  grown  so  immensely 
during  the  war.  Without  losing  sight  of  our  own  special  circum- 
stances, we  have  every  reason  to  follow  with  the  greatest  attention 
the  development  of  the  situation  in  England."  If  this  is  the  typical 
attitude  of  our  national  enemies  it  is  worth  while  pressing  home  the 
moral  of  the  Whitley  Report.     Although,  as  has  been  said,  it  has 


APPENDIX  J  533 

its  enthusiastic  supporters,  every  new  departure  must  make  good 
its  case  before  a  vast  army  of  lukevi^arm  Laodiceans.  Mr.  Bonar 
Law  has  said  that  we  must  not  spread  the  redemption  of  the  national 
debt  over  a  long  period  of  years,  but  that  we  must  aim  at  its  early 
reduction  to  manageable  proportions.  Similarly  it  will  be  of  little 
avail  for  purposes  of  reconstruction  if  we  take  ten  years  or  a  gen- 
eration to  put  into  practical  shape  the  ideas  underlying  the  Whitley 
Report.  It  must  be  now  or  never.  What,  then,  is  the  great  idea 
underlying  this  historic  document? 

ITS  ROOT  IDEA 

The  great  conception  is  that  each  industry  is  a  unit.  An  in- 
dustry is  not  a  collection  of  individual  firms,  each  of  which  has 
no  connection,  except  as  a  competitor,  with  all  the  others.  Indus- 
trial concerns,  manufacturing  or  trading  in  the  same  commodity 
or  group  of  commodities,  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  simply  or  even 
mainly  competing  for  the  supply  of  the  same  or  adjoining  markets. 
A  trade  is  something  bigger  and  finer  than  the  mere  sum  of  units 
that  comjiose  it.  It  has  its  own  problems,  its  own  internal  questions 
of  organization  and  methods  of  production,  its  own  sj^ecial  sources 
of  raw  material,  its  own  peculiar  difficulties  regarding  access  to  mar- 
kets, home  and  foreign,  its  own  particular  attitude  on  the  one  hand 
to  capital  and  on  the  other  hand  to  labor.  Further,  each  trade 
stands  in  a  well-defined  relation  to  the  State,  to  the  consuming  pub- 
lic, and  to  the  transport  and  financial  system,  on  which,  in  the 
modern  industrial  world,  all  trades  and  businesses  depend  in  the 
last  resort.  Hitherto  no  trade  has  had  a  corporate  organization. 
When,  as  has  happened  during  the  war,  the  Government  has  de- 
sired to  deal  with  a  trade  as  a  whole,  machinery  for  the  purpose  has 
had  often  to  be  very  hastily  improvised.  We  have  seen  the  ad- 
vantage of  industrial  organization  during  war.  It  is  plain  that 
such  organization  must  have  equal,  or  greater  importance  in  the 
subsequent  time  of  peace. 

THE   ORGANIZATION    OF   AN    INDUSTRIAL   COUNCIL 

The  form  the  organization  of  an  industry  should  take  has  been 
called  the  Industrial  Council.  Before  analyzing  its  functions,  it  is 
necessary  to  describe  how  such  a  Council  should  be  constituted.  In 
the  first  place  it  is  intended  that  each  Council  shall  deal  with  the 
whole  trade  or  industry  and  not  with  any  special  branch.  There 
cannot  be  in  one  trade  one  Council  representing  Capital,  another 
representing  Management,  and  a  third  representing  Labor.  The 
whole  object  in  having  a  Council  is  to  bring  together  all  the  factors 


634.  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

in  the  trade.  A  trade  does  not  belong  to  the  Capitalist  as  such,  nor 
to  Management  as  such,  nor  to  Labor  as  such.  But  all  these  ele- 
ments ouglit  to  be  reprcs(;nted  on  tlie  Council.  Again,  a  Council 
should  not  be  composed  of  representatives  of  individual  capitalists, 
employers  or  workpeople.  It  ouglit  to  be  an  Association  of  As.soci- 
ations.  In  other  words,  it  ought  to  consist  of  representatives  of  all 
the  employers'  groups  and  of  all  tiie  trade  unions  covered  by  the 
particular  industry. 

AN    ASSOCIATION    OF   EMPLOYERS'    ASSOCIATIONS    AND   TRADE    UNIONS 

The  formation  of  an  Industrial  Council  does  not  make  the  pro- 
vision of  other  forms  of  industrial  union  less  essential.  It  rather 
pre-supposes  them.  Without  effective  employers'  associations,  and 
trade  unions  it  is  impossible  to  form  a  Council.  The  wider  and  the 
more  representative  the  collection  of  associations  that  appoint  dele- 
gates to  the  Council,  the  more  effective  it  is  likely  to  be. 

NO  INTERFERENCE  WITH  TIIE  INDIVIDUAL  MANAGEMENT  OF  INDUSTRIES 

Again,  the  formation  of  an  Industrial  Council  will  not  interfere 
in  the  slightest  degree  witli  tlie  existing  system  of  business  manage- 
ment by  individuals,  firms  and  companies.  The  State  has  imposed 
a  large  measure  of  control  during  war,  to  which  all  manufacturers, 
large  or  small,  have  been  compelled  to  conform.  After  the  war 
there  is  likely  to  be  an  instant  and  even  a  peremptory  demand  that 
the  State  should  release  its  grip  and  allow  business  to  go  back  into 
the  old  channels.  Suppose,  then,  that  in  a  given  trade  a  Council 
is  set  up  during  the  war.  What  will  be  the  position  at  the  end  of 
the  war?  The  Orders  and  Regulations  of  Government  Departments 
will  gradually  be  abrogated  and  disappear.  But  the  individual 
manufacturer  will  find  the  situation  very  different  from  what  it  was 
before  the  war.  There  may  very  well  be  a  shortage  of  this  or  that 
essential  material,  old  markets  may  be  closed  and  new  markets 
opened  under  novel  conditions.  This  or  that  unexpected  emergency 
may  arise.  Here  the  utility  of  tlie  Industrial  Council  will  appear. 
In  that  Council  all  questions  affecting  the  welfare  of  the  trade  will 
be  discussed  weekly  or  fortnightly  or  monthly  as  the  case  may  be. 
The  whole  experience  of  tlie  trade,  the  knowledge  of  its  leading 
members  about  general  conditions  will  be  open  and  available  to  the 
humblest  member  of  the  trade.  He  will  still  manage  his  business 
himself,  but  he  will  have  more  than  his  own  business  ability  and 
knowledge  to  rely  on.  He  will  be  able  to  draw  on  the  whole  experi- 
ence and  ability  of  the  trade  in  order  to  reduce  untoward  risks  and 
to  eliminate  many  causes  of  failure.     Or  if.  in  the  interests  of  the 


APPENDIX  J  535 

whole  trade,  some  forms  of  regulation  must  be  temporarily  main- 
tained after  the  war,  it  is  better  surely  that  these  regulations  should 
be  imposed  by  the  trade  itself  than  by  the  State.  An  Industrial 
Council,  properly  manned,  and  with  functions  corresponding  to  its 
own  dignity  and  importance,  is  a  better  legislative  body  in  all  mat- 
ters relating  to  the  trade  than  a  Government  Department,  however 
well  qualified,  which  has  to  rely  on  the  opinions  and  judgment  of 
outsiders.  An  Industrial  Council  can  speak  for  the  trade.  A  Gov- 
ernment Department,  at  the  best,  can  only  accept  and  act  upon  the 
opinions  of  its  own  appointed  experts  whose  knowledge  may  be 
limited. 

THE    REUiTION    BETWEEN    THE    STATE    AND    THE    INDUSTRIAL    COUNCILS 

(1.)  An  Industrial  Council  would,  then,  in  a  particular  industry 
be  composed  of  representatives  of  associations  of  employers  and 
working  people,  and  would  constitute  an  effective  parliament  or 
representative  body  for  the  discussion  of  all  matters  referred  to  it 
by  agreement  or  legislative  enactment  or,  in  course  of  time,  by  the 
custom  of  the  trade.  No  Council  can  be  formed  without  the  assent 
and  cooperation  of  both  emploj'ers  and  employed.  The  larger  in- 
terests of  the  industry  as  a  whole,  as  contrasted  with  the  interests 
of  an  individual  business,  are  the  affair  of  all  who  derive  their  in- 
come or  livelihood  from  the  industry,  whether  they  are  paid  weekly, 
monthly,  or  twice  a  year. 

(2.)  In  order  to  safeguard  the  interests  of  the  trade,  and  to  deal 
with  special  emergencies  as  they  occur,  the  Council  ought  to  meet 
frequently.  Its  discussions  must  be  open  to  the  trade,  reports  of 
its  proceedings  must  be  widely  circulated,  and  every  attempt  must 
be  made  to  inform  the  whole  trade  of  the  results  of  its  deliberations. 

VARIETY   OF   CONSTITUTION   ESSENTIAL 

Within  these  limits  there  will  be  room  for  a  great  variety  of  con- 
stitution and  of  methods  of  conducting  the  Councils.  What  is  suit- 
able for  one  industry  will  not  neeessarilj'  be  suitable  for  another  in- 
dustry. The  important  point  is  that  every  industry  should  have  a 
Council  or  representative  body,  and  that  this  body  should  include 
both  workpeople  and  employers,  and  that  its  proceedings  and  de- 
cisions should  be  fully  reported  to  the  trade. 

THE   INDUSTRIAL   COUNCIL  AS    A   FORUM    FOR  THE   DISCUSSION    OF   ALL 
INDUSTRIAL  QUESTIONS 

Mere  maehinerj',  it  may  be  said,  is  quite  unimportant.     What 


rAH)  mana(;ement  and  men 

are  tlie  Councils  to  do  once  they  are  created?  This  is  a  point  thai 
is  often  made,  but,  in  the  opinion  of  the  writer,  it  overlooks  one 
vital  fact.  The  mere  creation  of  a  representative  body  for  each 
industry  would  be  in  itself  a  highly  important  event.  All  the 
autl¥)rities  on  the  Britisli  Constitution  are  agreed  that  it  is  only  one 
of  the  functions  of  Parliament  to  act  as  a  legislative  body.  Its 
main  function  is  to  be  the  forum  to  which  all  matters  affecting  the 
welfare  of  tiie  people  of  the  country  can  be  brought  for  discussion. 
Similarly  an  Industrial  Council,  by  acting  as  a  forum  for  the  dis- 
cussion of  all  trade  questions,  will  enable  all  grievances  to  be  ven- 
tilated and  all  probable  future  perils  to  the  industry  to  be  antici- 
pated, and,  if  possible,  averted.  The  mere  existence  of  Industrial 
Councils  will  give  a  new  status  and  power  to  British  industry. 

PROBLEMS  OP  THE  TRANSITION'  PERIOD 

But  the  question  of  function,  although  perhaps  subsidiary,  is 
also  important.  Here  the  post-war  period  may  be  considered  as 
falling  into  two  divisions:  (1)  the  period  immediately  following  the 
peace — the  transition  period — and  (2)  the  subsequent  period,  i.e., 
the  period  that  will  begin  when  industry  shall  have  again  settled 
down  into  something  like  routine.  The  problems  that  an  Industrial 
Council  will  have  to  meet  during  the  first  period  are  obvious  enough. 

(a)    DEMOBILIZATION 

There  are  questions  like  demobilization.  The  Government  will 
want  to  know  how  many  men  will  be  required  immediately  after  peace 
in  a  given  industry  to  meet  the  prospective  demand  of  the  consuming 
public.  Some  industries  are  now  essential  for  war  purposes,  other 
industries  will  then  be  essential  for  peace  purposes.  Only  a  Council 
representing  the  whole  trade  can  give  the  Government  the  informa- 
tion it  requires  or  deal  with  the  matter  as  a  whole. 

(b)    APPRENTICESHIP 

There  is  also  the  question  of  apprenticeship.  Much  former  cus- 
tom and  usage  have  been  shattered  by  the  war.  The  temporary 
adoption  of  conscription  has  naturally  led  to  the  inadequate  train- 
ing of  the  younger  men  and  women.  How  this  defective  training 
can  be  quickly  made  good,  and  what  conditions  of  apprenticeship 
shall  be  required  in  the  future  in  view  of  the  changed  character  of 
many  industries,  these  are  problems  on  which  the  Government  will 
require  advice  that  no  authority  but  a  representative  Council  is  in  a 
position  to  offer.  The  war  has  taught  us  much  about  intensive 
training  and  workshop  organization.  How  far  are  we  to  profit 
permanently  by  these  lessons? 


APPENDIX  J  537 

(c)    RAW  MATERIALS  AND  ALLIED   QUESTIONS 

Further,  there  are  problems  connected  with  the  supply  of  raw 
materials  and  their  distribution  which  can  only  be  dealt  with  in  a 
similar  way.  Many  others  may  be  suggested.  But  the  desirability, 
indeed,  the  absolute  necessity,  for  such  Councils  will  be  apparent 
when  it  is  borne  in  mind  that  after  the  war  the  whole  system  of 
international  commerce  and  finance  will  be  in  the  melting  pot. 

(d)    THE   CONFUSION    OP   THE   TRANSITION    PERIOD 

It  will  be  a  time  of  extraordinary  confusion.  Even  the  largest 
and  best  established  industries  will  have  to  face  tremendous  prob- 
lems. For  smaller  industries  the  situation  may  present  irretrievable 
dangers,  unless  they  organize  themselves  betimes  to  ensure  that  their 
needs  are  seriously  considered  and  their  place  in  the  industrial  sys- 
tem made  thoroughly  secure. 

THE   PERMANENT   PROBLEMS    OF    INDUSTRY 

In  the  larger  world,  however,  on  which  industry  will  enter  after 
the  period  of  transition  is  over,  these  Councils  will  have  an  even 
greater  sphere  of  usefulness.  The  student  of  this  side  of  the  subject 
would  do  well  to  read  Mr.  Benn's  "Trade  of  To-morrow."  The 
Whitley  Report  enumerates  a  number  of  matters  that  may  be  handed 
over  to  the  Councils  for  special  consideration  and  treatment.  But 
the  eleven  questions  suggested  as  appropriate  are  merely  illustrations 
of  the  kind  of  work  such  bodies  ought  to  undertake. 

(a)    RESEARCH   AND   EDUCATION 

The  provision  of  new  sources  of  raw  materials,  the  endowment 
of  special  research  work  for  making  new  raw  materials  available 
and  for  reducing  the  number  of  processes  and  of  cost  in  manu- 
facture, the  elaboration  of  schemes  for  technical  and  commercial 
education,  are  important  objects  for  whicli  no  single  manufacturer 
can  provide,  but  on  which  the  Council  might  throw  much  light. 

(b)    THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF   EXPORT   TRADE 

Further,  the  development  of  the  export  trade,  as  for  instance  by 
the  adoption  of  a  better  Consular  Service  or  the  cooperative  employ- 
ment of  commission  agents  or  travelers  in  foreign  countries,  these 
are  also  matters  which  would  naturaly  devolve  on  the  Council. 

(c)    HARMONY    BETWEEN    LABOR   AND    CAPITAL 

Thirdly,  there  is  the  gront  crroup  of  labor  questions,  on  the  proper 
solution  of  which  the  whole  social  structure  depends.     In  this  con- 


538  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

ni'ction  it  is  ncccasar}-  to  remember  two  points  of  surpassing  im- 
portance. The  Labor  Problem,  as  it  is  commonly  called,  is  not 
simply  or  even  mainly  a  matter  of  wages  or  wage  adjustments.  It 
is  much  rather  a  question  of  a  consciously  felt  want  of  knowledge. 
The  community  recognizes  the  worth  and  ability  of  Labor.  But 
Labor  feels  that  many  sides  of  modem  industry  are  a  closed  book 
to  it.  Questions  of  finance  and  bookkeeping,  tlie  whole  commercial 
and  technical  side  of  industry,  are  beyond  its  ken.  Hence  the  in- 
dignant protests  of  the  whole  modem  Labor  movement.  It  feels 
itself  in  the  grip  of  impersonal  forces  which  act  blindly,  but  which 
it  cannot  control.  Now  the  individual  manufacturer  may  have  a 
difficulty  in  acting  with  labor  in  such  matters  in  his  own  individual 
business.  But  by  giving  representatives  of  Labor  seats  on  the 
Council  Board  of  an  industry  the  situation  will  be  radically  changed. 
Knowledge  of  tlie  general  conditions  of  trade,  the  varying  costs  of 
raw  materials,  the  constantly  recurring  difficulties  about  finance  and 
transport  in  backward  foreign  markets — these  are  just  a  few  illus- 
trations of  the  thousand  and  one  difficulties  of  the  modem  manu- 
facturer which  Labor  will  begin  to  know  and  appreciate. 

INDUSTRIAL   COUNCILS   NOT   WAGES   BOARDS    UNDER   A   NEW   NAME 

But  again,  if  the  individualistic  manufacturer  must  widen  his 
range  of  vision  to  the  conception  of  a  trade  as  a  whole,  in  which 
Labor  is  interested  jointly  with  Capital,  the  idea  that  an  Industrial 
Council  is  a  new  name  for  a  kind  of  glorified  Conciliation  Board  or 
Wages  Board  must  also  completely  disappear.  Its  objects  are  not 
limited  to  the  settlement  of  wage  differences.  Nothing  need  be 
said  against  Conciliation  Boards  or  similar  bodies.  They  have  done 
useful  service  in  the  past,  and  they  are  capable  of  doing  valuable 
work  in  the  future  in  a  selected  number  of  industries.  But  to-day, 
to  use  a  famous  phrase  of  Burke,  men's  minds  are  being  irresistibly 
drawn  to  a  higher  conception  of  the  part  which  Labor  and  Capital 
can  jointly  play  in  shaping  and  controlling  the  industry-  of  the  fu- 
ture. In  this  connection  it  is  ver\'  important  to  remember  the  sub- 
heading in  Section  16  of  the  Whitley  Report,  which  suggests  for 
special  mention  as  falling  to  Industrial  Councils  such  subjects  as  the 
better  utilization  of  the  practical  knowledge  and  experience  of  the 
workpeople,  and  of  inventions  and  improvements  designed  by  work- 
people, and  the  cooperation  of  the  workpeople  in  carrying  into  effect 
new  ideas  about  the  organization  of  industry  and  the  improvement 
of  processes. 


APPENDIX  J  539 

AN    INDUSTRY    NOT    A    COLLECTION    OF    SEPARATE    FIRMS 

All  this  is  important  because  an  industry  must  be  considered, 
as  has  already  been  said,  as  something  more  than  a  collection  of  in- 
dividual firms.  Each  industry  has  a  common  viewpoint,  common 
problems,  common  interests.  The  manufacturer  A.B.  may  have  his 
special  interests,  which  differ  from  those  of  CD.,  E.F.,  or  G.H. 
But  besides  these  special  interests  of  individual  concerns  there  are 
involved  in  every  industry  common  objects  or  interests,  and  in  the 
discussion  of  these  general  problems  in  a  large  and  statesmanlike 
way,  Labor  is  as  much  concerned  as  Capital.  Indeed,  it  will  prob- 
ably surprise  many  employers  when  they  first  sit  round  a  Council 
Board  to  discuss  with  representatives  of  Labor  the  fundamental 
problems  of  the  industry,  to  discover  how  many  ideas  of  substantial 
worth  Labor  has  to  contribute  towards  their  solution. 

THE  CORPORATE  INTERESTS  OF  INDUSTRY  IN  ITS  SPECIAL  PROBLEMS 

The  modem  industrial  problem  is  too  big  for  the  small  employers ; 
it  is  too  big  for  the  larger  employers,  or  even  for  all  employers  to- 
gether. It  demands  a  cooperative  effort  on  the  part  of  the  best 
brains  of  Labor  as  well  as  of  Capital  and  Management.  Such  ability 
will  best  be  put  at  the  service  of  industry  through  the  establishment 
of  Industrial  Councils  in  every  industry. 

It  only  remains,  in  conclusion,  to  point  out  the  supreme  advantages 
to  be  gained  by  creating  these  Councils. 

IMPROVED    SOCIAL   STATUS    OF    THE    INDUSTRIAL    CLASSES 

(1)  They  will  eliminate  the  false  distinction  so  often  drawn  be- 
tween trade  and  the  professions.  Lawyers,  doctors,  and  clergymen, 
through  their  own  organizations  or  guilds,  have  a  definite  profes- 
sional status  conferred  on  them  by  the  State  and  recognized  by  the 
general  community,  in  virtue  of  which  they  all  feel  that  in  doing 
their  ordinary  work  they  are  rendering  an  important  national  sen'ice. 
Trade  is  also  a  national  service.  By  organizing  industries  in  great 
National  Councils,  not  only  manufacturers  and  traders,  but  the 
artizans,  and  all  ranks  in  industry  would  feel  that  they,  too,  were 
professional  men,  performing  work  of  national  moment.  To  arouse 
a  real  esprit  de  corps  in  industry  will  be  a  substantial  national  gain. 

THE   PLACE   OF   INDUSTRY   IN    THE   COMMUNITY 

(2)  An  industry  knows  its  own  needs  better  than  any  Government 
or  outside  body.  By  setting  up  Industrial  Councils  we  shall  make 
each  industry,  as  it  were,  a  self-conscious  body,  without  in  the  least 


540  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

detracting  from  tlio  overriding  authority  of  the  State.  Every  in- 
dustry will  then  for  the  first  time  have  a  recognized  place  in  the  body 
politic.  In  this  way  also  a  new  spirit  will  be  created  in  each  trade. 
It  will  have  a  new  sense  of  its  own  value  and  importance  to  the 
community. 

THE  ADVANTAGE  OP  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS  TO  THE   STATE 

(3)  The  State  will  also  have  a  definite  advantage,  inasmuch  as 
for  the  first  time  it  will  have  a  single  organization  to  approach  in 
all  matters  relating  to  a  particular  industry.  Hitherto  no  one  body 
has  been  in  a  position  to  voice  the  needs  or  desires  of  a  given  trade. 
The  new  arrangement  will  tend  to  greater  simplification  and  ease  of 
working.  The  old  multiplication  of  authorities  will  disappear,  and 
the  adjustment  of  questions  between  an  industry  and  the  Government 
of  the  day  will  be  more  smoothly  and  rapidly  effected. 

THE   SELF-DEVELOPMENT   OF  BACH   INDUSTRY 

(4)  An  Industrial  Council  will  prepare  the  way  for  the  self- 
development  of  each  industry.  Any  persons  with  new  ideas  regard- 
ing the  better  working  of  trade,  better  methods  of  production,  new 
processes,  will  have  a  responsible  body  to  whom  they  can  go.  The 
industry  as  a  whole  will  have  an  organ  for  its  own  improvement. 
And  the  control  of  that  organ  will  rest  not  in  the  hands  of  a  Gov- 
ernment Department,  but  with  the  members  of  the  trade  itself. 
Each  industry  will  in  a  sense  run  itself  and  be  responsible  for  its 
adaptation  to  the  requirements  of  each  new  situation  that  arises. 

A   STEPPING    STONE   TOWARDS    INDUSTRIAL   RECONSTRUCTION 

(5)  Last,  but  by  no  means  least,  the  establishment  of  Industrial 
Councils  will  go  a  long  way  to  reconcile  the  divergent  interests  of 
Labor  and  Capital.  It  will  be  the  death  blow  of  the  persistent 
fallacy  that  Labor  is  only  interested  in  wages  and  Capital  in  profits. 
The  employer  and  the  wage-earner  will  meet  at  the  Council  Board 
not  merely  to  discuss  an  increase  or  reduction  of  a  halfpenny  an 
hour  in  the  remuneration  of  Labor,  but  to  consider  the  development 
and  the  needs  of  the  whole  industry.  Both  sides  in  the  age-long 
economic  conflict  have  an  equal  interest  in  the  growth  of  their  in- 
dustry and  in  the  discussion  of  its  varied  problems.  What  the  fu- 
ture relationships  between  Capital  and  Labor  may  be,  time  alone 
can  decide.  Meantime  the  opportunity  is  open  for  an  immense 
stride  forward.  Let  us  seize  it  at  once  and  work  with  both  hands 
earnestly  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  new  era  in  the  wonderful  his- 
tory of  British  trade  and  industry. 


APPENDIX  J  541 

REPORT  OF  THE 
INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION  COUNCIL 

Report  for  the  Year  December,  1917-1918 

The  close  of  this  eventful  and  wonderful  year  brings  also  to  an 
end  the  first  year's  work  of  the  Industxial  Reconstruction  Council. 
The  Council  was  founded  in  December,  1917,  as  a  propagandist 
body  for  the  encouragement  of  the  Trade  Parliament  movement, 
and  for  the  education  of  the  business  and  general  community  to  a 
new  conception  of  industry  and  to  a  true  appreciation  of  the  indus- 
trial situation.  The  success  which  has  attended  all  our  efforts,  the 
crowded  audiences  at  our  meetings,  the  eager  requests  for  our  speak- 
ers, the  almost  embarrassing  demand  upon  our  literature,  are  a 
measure  of  the  universal  interest  now  taken  in  Industrial  Recon- 
struction and  an  indication  of  the  real  progress  which  the  move- 
ment for  Industrial  Self-Government  has  made. 

In  our  last  Report,  published  at  the  half-year,  it  was  stated  that 
there  was  hardly  any  trade  that  had  not  accepted  the  underlying 
principles  of  the  Whitley  Report.  Before  reviewing  in  detail  the 
activities  of  the  I.R.C.,  to  which  we  venture  to  attribute  a  leading 
share  in  this  result,  it  may  be  useful  to  give  a  list  of  the  joint  bodies 
now  actually  in  existence  and  already  at  work  on  the  problems  of 
reconstruction  and  industrial  development.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  these  are  of  three  types : — 

(a)  Industrial  Councils,  established  under  the  aegis  of  the  Min- 
istry of  Labor  in  trades  already  well-organized  on  both 
sides. 

(b)  Interim  Industrial  Reconstruction  Committees,  formed  with 
the  help  of  the  Ministry  of  Reconstruction  in  trades  where 
the  degree  of  organization  is  not  sufficient  for  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution  of  an  Industrial  Council.  These  Com- 
mittees are  in  all  cases  encouraging  organization  in  their 
respective  trades,  and  will  eventually  transform  themselves 
into  Industrial  Councils. 

(c)  Trade  Boards,  set  up  by  the  Ministry  of  Labor  in  trades 
where  the  organization  on  the  workers'  side  is  poor  and  the 
wages  are  low.  These  bodies  have  done  and  are  doing 
good  work,  but  in  so  far  as  they  are  imposed  by  the 
Government  upon  a  trade,  with  the  primary  function  of 
settling  rates  of  pay,  they  cannot  be  placed  in  the  same 
category  with  the  other  two  classes  of  bodies  which  are 
created  by  the  initiative  of  the  trades  themselves,  and  are 


542 


managemp:nt  and  men 


concerned  not  so  mucli  with  the  questions  of  wages  and 
prolits  us  witli  the  welfare  and  development  of  the  indus- 
try as  a  whole.  It  is  hoped  that  as  tiie  status  and  organi- 
zation of  an  industry  improve,  the  Trade  Board  may  be 
superseded  by  an  Interim  Committee  or  an  Industrial 
Council, 
(d)  Provisional  Committees  which  have  been  formed  to  draft 
constitutions  for  Joint  Industrial  Councils. 
Joint  bodies  in  one  or  other  of  these  categories  now  exist  in  the 

following   trades.     Whatever   the   official   title,   most    of   them   look 

upon  themselves  as  Trade  Parliaments: — 


Artificial  Stone. 

Baking. 

Basket-making. 

Blacksmiths   and   Farriers. 

Bobbin  and  Shuttlemaking. 

Boot  and  Shoe  Trades. 

Brass  and  Copper  Trades. 

Brush-making. 

Building. 

Cable-making. 

Catering. 

Cement. 

Chain-making. 

Chemicals  (Heavy). 

China  Clay. 

Clay. 

Cocoa,  Chocolate,  Sugar 

Confectioneiy  and  Jam. 
Commercial  Road  Transport, 
Coopering. 
Cotton. 
Cutlery. 

Electrical   Contracting. 
Electricity,  Power  and  Supply. 
Envelopes  and  Manufactured 

Stationery. 
Fertilizers, 
Furniture. 
Furniture,  Warehoasing  and 

Removing. 
Glass. 
Gloves. 


Gold,  Silver,  Horological  and  Al- 
lied Trades, 
Hollo w- ware    ( Wrought ) . 
Hosiery. 

Hosiery   (Scottish   Section). 
Iron  and  Steel  Trades. 
Lace  Finishing. 
Leather  Goods  and  Belting. 
Leather  Production. 
Linen  and  Cotton   Embroidery, 
Lock,  Safe  and  Latch, 
Matches. 

Metallic  Bedsteads. 
Musical  Trades. 
Newspapers. 
Packing  Case  Making, 
Paint  and  Varnish. 
Papermaking. 
Paper   and    Cardboard    Box-mak- 


Patent  Fuel. 
Pottery. 
Printing. 
Quarrying. 
Railway     Carriage 

Building. 
Roller  Engra\ing. 
Rubber. 
Sawmilling. 
Shipbuilding. 
Shirt-making. 
Silk. 


and     Wagon 


APPENDIX  J 


543 


Sugar  Refining. 

Surgical  Instruments. 

Tailorinf'. 

Tin  Box  and  Canister  Making. 

Tin  Mining. 

Tramways. 

Vehicle  Building. 


Waterworks. 
Wire  Manufacturing. 
Woolen   and  Worsted. 
Woolen   and  Worsted 
(Scottish  Section). 
Zinc  and  Spelter. 


With  negotiations  now  being  carried  on  in  every  industry  in  the 
country',  frequent  additions  to  this  list  may  be  expected,  and  we 
may  look  forward  with  every  hope  to  the  establishment  of  a  com- 
plete system  of  Industrial  Self-Government  which  will  enable  British 
Industry  to  compete  fairly  and  successfully  with  that  of  any  other 
nation  in  the  world. 


APPENDIX  K 

RULES  FOR  WORKING  THE  HANS  RENOLD  SHOP 
STEWARDS  COMMITTEE 

1. — A  representative  may  be  appointed  by  and  from  each  de- 
partment to  act  as  Shop  Stewards,  who  shall  retire  at  the  end  of 
twelve  months,  but  shall  be  eligible  for  reelection.  Small  Depart- 
ments to  be  grouped  and  2nd  Ballot  to  be  taken  if  no  candidate 
receives  clear  majority.  Any  department  may  appoint  a  provisional 
to  act  in  the  absence  of  their  elected  representative. 

2. — In  addition  to  the  above,  a  Chairman  and  Secretary,  inde- 
pendent of  any  one  department,  shall  be  elected  at  the  Annual  Meet- 
ing, which  shall  be  held  in  January.  They  shall  act  for  twelve 
months,  and  shall  not  be  eligible  for  reelection  to  either  of  these 
offices  for  a  period  of  twelve  months,  but  shall  be  eligible  for  elec- 
tion as  Shop  Steward. 

3. — The  Shop  Stewards  shall  be  members  of  a  recognized  Trade 
Union  or  a  similar  organization,  and  shall  as  near  as  possible  repre- 
sent all  grades  of  labor. 

4. — They  shall  meet  regularly  once  a  month,  and  on  other  neces- 
sary occasions  when  summoned  by  the  Secretary. 

5. — At  the  first  meeting  after  election  they  shall  elect  from  their 
own  number  an  executive  of  seven  including  Chairman  and  Secre- 
tary, whose  duties  shall  include  attendance  at  joint  meetings  held 
regularly  with  the  Management,  to  discuss  business  brought  before 
the  full  Committee. 

6. — The  Chairman  and  Secretary  shall  perform  all  such  duties  as 
come  within  the  scope  of  their  respective  offices,  and  together  shall 
be  the  recognized  means  of  discussion  with  the  Management  upon 
a  request  from  either  side  for  an  interview. 

7. — The  representative  of  any  department  whose  case  is  to  be  dis- 
cussed with  the  Management  must  accompany  the  deputation  to  the 
Management,  whether  he  be  a  member  of  the  Executive  or  not. 

8. — The  Shop  Stewards  shall  require  all  in  their  department  to 
produce  their  contribution  card  once  every  three  months,  and  no 
business  shall  be  brought  before  the  Committee  on  behalf  of  a  non- 
unionist. 

544 


APPENDIX  K  545 

9. — No  drastic  action  shall  be  taken  in  any  part  of  the  works,  un- 
less so  decided  by  a  two-thirds  majority  of  a  general  meeting  called 
for  that  purpose,  unless  such  action  has  been  ordered  by  the  Trades' 
Union  concerned. 

10. — A  copy  of  these  rules  shall  be  supplied  at  cost  price  to  each 
one  working  in  a  department  represented  on  the  Shop  Stewards 
Committee. 


APPENDIX  L 

WORKSHOP  COMMITTEES 

Suggested  Lines  of  Development 
By  C.  G.  Renold 

PREFACE 

Some  time  ago  I  was  asked  to  prepare  a  memorandum  on  the 
subject  of  Workshop  Committees,  for  presentation  to  the  British 
Association,  as  a  part  of  the  rep(»rt  uf  a  special  Sub-committee  study- 
ing Industrial  Unrest.  The  following  pages  contain  the  gist  of  that 
memorandum,  and  are  now  issued  in  this  form  for  the  benefit  of 
some  of  those  interested  in  the  problem  who  may  not  see  the  orig- 
inal report. 

I  have  approached  the  subject  with  the  con\action  that  the  work- 
er's desire  for  more  scope  in  his  working  life  can  best  be  satisfied 
by  giving  him  some  share  in  the  directing  of  it;  if  not  of  the  work 
itself,  at  least  of  the  conditions  under  which  it  is  carried  out.  I 
have  tried,  therefore,  to  work  out  in  some  detail  the  part  which  or- 
ganizations of  workers  might  play  in  works  administration.  And 
believing  as  I  do,  that  the  existing  industrial  system,  with  all  its 
faults  and  injustices,  must  still  form  the  basis  of  any  future  system, 
I  am  concerned  to  show  that  a  considerable  development  of  joint 
action  between  management  and  workers  is  possible,  even  under 
present  conditions. 

Many  of  the  ideas  put  forward  are  already  incorporated  to  a 
greater  or  lesser  degree  in  the  institutions  of  these  works,  but  these 
notes  are  not  intended,  primarily,  as  an  account  of  our  experiments, 
still  less  as  a  forecast  of  the  future  plans  of  this  firm.  Our  own 
experience  and  hopes  do  however,  fonn  the  basis  of  much  here 
written,  and  have  inevitably  influenced  the  general  line  of  thought 
followed. 

C.  G.  Renold, 
Hans  Renold,  Limited, 
Manchester 
546 


APPENDIX  L  547 

CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION 


SECTION    I 

Scope  of  Workers'  Shop  Organizations;  Management  questions  which 
could  be  devolved,  wholly  or  in  part. 

1.  Questions  in  connection  with  which  Shop  Organizations  would  pri- 
marily benefit  the  Workers. 

(a)    Collective  Bargaining. 

( h )    Grievances. 

(e)    General  Shop  Conditions  and  Amenities. 

id)    General  tiocial  Amenities. 

2.  Questions  on  which  joint  discussion  would  primarily  be  of  advan- 
tage to  the  Management. 

(a)    Interprefation  of  Management  to  Workers. 

{ b )   Education  in  Shop  Processes  and  Trade  Technique. 

(c)  Promotion. 

(d)  Education  in  General  Business  Questions. 

SECTION    II 

Types  of  Organization. 

1.  Requirements  to  be  satisfied. 

(a)    Keeping  in  Touch  with  the  Trade  Union. 
(6)   Representation  of  all  (h-ades. 

(c)  Touch  ivith  Management. 

(d)  Rapidity  of  Action. 

2.  Influence  of  various  industrial  conditions  on  the  type  of  organiza- 
tion of  Shop  Committees. 

(a)  Type  of  Labor. 

(b)  Stability  and  Regularity  of  Employment. 

(c)  Elaboration  of  Management  Organization. 

3.  Some  Schemes  suggested. 

(a)    Shop  Steviards'  Committee. 

(6)    Social  Union. 

(c)    Welfare  Committee. 

SECTION   in 

Summary  and  Conclusions  of  Sections  I  and  II 

SECTION    IV 

Comments  on  Working. 

1.  Relation  with   Shop  Foremen. 

2.  Provision  of  facilities  for  committee  work. 

INTRODUCTION 

Throughout  the  following  notes  it  is  assumed  that  the  need  is 
realized  for  a  new  orientation  of  ideas  with  regard  to  industrial 


648  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

management.  It  is  further  assumed  that  the  trend  of  such  ideas 
must  be  in  the  direction  of  a  devolution  of  some  of  the  functions  and 
responsibilities  of  management  on  to  the  workers  themselves.  These 
notes,  therefore,  are  concerned  mainly  with  considering  how  far  this 
devolution  can  be  carried  uihUt  present  conditions,  and  the  neces- 
sary machinery  for  enabling  it  to  operate. 

Before  passing,  however,  to  detailed  schemes,  it  is  worth  con- 
sidering briefly  what  the  aims  of  this  devolution  are. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  conditions  of  industrial  life  fail  to 
satisfy  the  deeper  needs  of  the  workers,  and  that  it  is  this  failure, 
even  more  than  low  wages,  which  is  responsible  for  much  of  their 
general  unrest.  Now  the  satisfaction  to  be  derived  from  work  de- 
pends upon  its  being  a  means  of  self-expression.  This  again  de- 
pends on  the  power  of  control  exercised  by  the  individual  over  the 
materials  and  processes  used,  and  the  conditions  under  which  the 
work  is  carried  out,  or  in  the  case  of  complicated  operations,  where 
the  individual  can  hardly  be  other  than  a  "cog  in  the  machine," — 
on  the  willingness,  understanding,  and  imagination  with  which  he 
undertakes  such  a  role.  In  the  past  the  movement  in  industry,  in 
this  respect,  has  been  all  in  the  wrong  direction,  namely,  a  continual 
reduction  of  freedom,  initiative,  and  interest,  involving  an  accentua- 
tion of  the  "cog-in-the-machine"  status.  Moreover,  it  has  too  often 
produced  a  "cog"  blind  and  unwilling,  with  no  perspective  or  under- 
standing of  the  part  it  plays  in  the  general  mechanism  of  produc- 
tion, or  even  in  any  one  particular  series  of  operations. 

Each  successive  step  in  the  splitting  up  and  specializing  of  opera- 
tions has  been  taken  with  a  view  to  promoting  efficiency  of  pro- 
duction, and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  efficiency,  in  a  material  sense, 
has  been  achieved  thereby,  and  the  productivity  of  industry  greatly 
increased.  This  has  been  done,  however,  at  the  cost  of  pleasure  and 
interest  in  work,  and  the  problem  now  is  how  far  these  could  be 
restored,  as,  for  instance,  by  some  devolution  of  management  re- 
sponsibility on  to  the  workers,  and  how  far  such  devolution  is  pos- 
sible under  the  competitive  capitalist  system,  which  is  likely  to  dom- 
inate industry  for  many  long  years  to  come. 

Under  the  conditions  of  capitalist  industry  any  scheme  of  devolu- 
tion of  management  can  only  stand  provided  it  involves  no  net  loss 
of  productive  efficiency.  It  is  believed,  however,  that  even  within 
these  limits,  considerable  progress  in  this  direction  is  possible,  doubt- 
less involving  some  detail  loss,  but  with  more  than  compensating 
gains  in  general  efficiency.  In  this  connection  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  the  work  of  very  many  men,  probably  of  most,  is  given 
more  or  less  unwillingly,  and  even  should  the  introduction  of  more 


APPENDIX  L  549 

democratic  methods  of  business  management  entail  a  certain  amount 
of  loss  of  mechanical  efficiency,  due  to  the  greater  cumbersomeness 
of  democratic  proceedings,  if  it  can  succeed  in  obtaining  more  will- 
ing work  and  cooperation,  the  net  gain  in  productivity  would  be 
enormous. 

Important  and  urgent  as  is  this  problem  of  re-arranging  the  ma- 
chinery of  management,  to  enable  responsibility  and  power  to  be 
shared  with  the  workers,  another  and  preliminary  step  is  even  more 
pressing.  This  is  the  establishing  of  touch  and  understanding  be- 
tween employer  and  employed,  between  management  and  worker. 
Quite  apart  from  the  many  real  grievances  under  which  workers  in 
various  trades  are  suffering  at  the  present  time,  there  is  a  vast 
amount  of  bad  feeling,  due  to  misunderstanding,  on  the  part  of 
each  side,  of  the  aims  and  motives  of  the  other.  Each  party,  be- 
lieving the  other  to  be  always  ready  to  play  foul,  finds  in  every  move 
easy  evidence  to  support  its  bitterest  suspicions.  The  workers  are 
irritated  beyond  measure  by  the  inefficiency  and  blundering  in  or- 
ganization and  management  which  they  detect  on  every  side,  and 
knowing  nothing  of  business  management  cannot  understand  or 
make  allowance  for  the  enormous  difficulties  under  which  employers 
labor  at  the  present  time.  Similarly,  employers  are  too  ignorant 
of  trade  union  affairs  to  appreciate  the  problems  which  the  present 
"lightning  transformation"  of  industry  present  to  those  responsible 
for  shaping  trade  union  policy;  nor  is  the  employer  generally  in 
close  enough  human  touch  to  realize  the  effect  of  the  long  strain  of 
war  work,  and  of  the  harassing  restrictions  of  personal  liberty. 

More  important  therefore  than  any  reconstruction  of  management 
machinery,  more  important  even  than  the  remedying  of  specific 
grievances,  is  the  establishing  of  some  degree  of  ordinary  human 
touch  and  sjTnpathy  between  management  and  men. 

This  also  has  an  important  bearing  on  any  discussion  with  re- 
gard to  developing  machinerj'  for  joint  action.  It  cannot  be  em- 
phasized too  strongly  that  the  hopefulness  of  any  such  attempt  lies, 
not  in  the  perfection  of  the  machinery,  nor  even  in  the  wideness  of 
the  powers  of  self-government  granted  to  the  workers,  but  in  the 
degree  to  which  touch  and,  if  possible,  friendliness  can  be  estab- 
lished. It  should  be  realized,  for  instance,  by  employers,  tliat  time 
spent  on  discussing  and  ventilating  alleged  grievances  which  turn 
out  to  be  no  grievances,  may  be  quite  as  productive  of  understanding 
and  good  feeling  as  the  removal  of  real  grievances. 

Passing  now  to  constructive  proposals  for  devolution  of  man- 
agement, the  subject  is  here  dealt  with  mainly  in  two  stages. 

Under   Section   I,   some  of  the   functions   of  management   which 


550  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

most  concern  the  workers  are  considered,  with  a  view  to  seeing  how 
far  the  autocratic  (or  bureaucratic)  secrecy  and  exclusiveness  wiiich 
usually  surround  business  manaj^crnent,  as  far  as  workers  are  con- 
cerned, is  really  unavoidable,  or  how  far  it  could  be  replaced  by 
democratic  discussion  and  jinnt  action.  The  conclusion  is  that  there 
is  no  reason  inherent  in  the  nature  of  the  questions  themselves  why 
this  cannot  be  done  to  a  very  considerable  extent. 

Section  J I  deals  with  the  second  stage  referred  to,  and  considers 
the  machinery  needed  to  make  such  joint  action,  as  is  suggested  in 
Section  I,  workable — a  very  different  matter  from  admitting  that 
in  itself  it  is  not  impossible!  The  apparent  complication  of  such 
machinery  is  doubtless  a  difficulty,  but  it  is  not  insuperal)le,  and  is 
in  practice  less  formidable  than  it  seems  at  first  sight.  It  must  be 
realized,  however,  that  the  degree  of  elaboration  of  the  machinery 
for  joint  working,  adopted  by  any  particular  industry  or  firm, 
must  be  in  relation  to  the  elaboration  of  the  existing  management 
system.  It  would  be  quite  impossible  for  many  of  the  refinements 
of  discussion  and  joint  action  suggested  to  be  adopted  by  a  firm 
whose  ordinary  business  organization  was  crude,  undeveloped,  and 
unsystematic.     This  point  is  more  fully  dealt  with  in  this  section. 

Section  III  contains  a  summary  of  the  scheme  of  Committees 
contained  in  Section  II,  showing  the  distribution  to  each  committee 
of  the  various  questions  discussed  in  Sectif)n  I. 

In  Section  IV  some  comments  are  made,  based  on  actual  experi- 
ence of  an  attempt  to  institute  machinery  of  the  kind  discussed, 
and  some  practical  hints  are  given  which  may  be  of  assistance  to 
others. 

Section  I 
SCOPE  OP  workers'  shop  organizations;  management  questions 

WHICH  COULD  BE  DEVOLVED,  WHOLLY  OR  IN  PART 

It  is  proposed  in  this  section  to  consider  the  activities  which  or- 
ganizations of  workers  within  the  workshop  might  undertake  with- 
out any  radical  reorganization  of  industry.  What  functions  and 
powers,  usually  exercised  by  the  management,  could  be  devolved  on 
to  the  workers,  and  what  questions,  usually  considered  private  by 
the  management,  could  be  made  the  subject  of  explanation  and  con- 
sultation? The  number  of  such  questions  as  set  out  in  this  sec- 
tion may  appear  very  formidable,  and  is  possibly  too  great  to  be 
dealt  with,  except  by  a  very  gradual  process.  No  thought  is  given 
at  this  stage,  however,  to  the  machinery  which  would  be  necessary 
for  achieving  so  much  joint  working,  the  subject  being  considered 


APPENDIX  L  551 

rather  with  a  view  to  seeing  how  far,  and  in  what  directions,  the 
inherent  nature  of  the  questions  themselves  would  make  it  possible 
or  advisable  to  break  down  the  censorship  and  secrecy  which  sur- 
round business  management. 

In  the  list  which  follows,  obviously  not  all  questions  are  of  equal 
urgency,  those  being  most  important  which  provide  means  of  con- 
sultation and  conciliation  in  regard  to  such  matters  as  most  fre- 
quently give  rise  to  disputes,  namely,  wage  and  piece-rate  questions, 
and  to  a  lesser  degree,  workshop  practices  and  customs.  Any 
scheme  of  joint  working  should  begin  with  these  matters,  the  others 
being  taken  over  as  the  machinery  settles  down  and  it  is  found 
practicable  to  do  so.  How  far  any  particular  business  can  go  will 
depend  on  the  circumstances  of  the  trade,  and  on  the  tj^pe  of  or- 
ganization in  operation. 

Though  machinery  for  conciliation  in  connection  with  existing 
troubles,  such  as  those  mentioned,  must  be  the  first  care,  some  of  the 
other  matters  suggested  in  this  section — e.g.,  safety  and  hygiene, 
shop  amenities,  etc. — should  be  dealt  with  at  the  earliest  possible 
moment.  Such  subjects,  being  less  controversial,  offer  an  easier 
means  of  approach  for  establishing  touch  and  understanding  be- 
tween managers  and  men. 

The  suggestions  in  this  section  are  divided  into  two  main  groups, 
but  this  division  is  rather  a  matter  of  convenience  than  an  indica- 
tion of  any  vital  difference  in  nature.  The  suggestions  are  ar- 
ranged in  order  of  urgency,  those  coming  first  wliere  the  case  for 
establishing  a  workers'  shop  organization  is  so  clear  as  to  amount  to 
a  right,  and  passing  graduall,y  to  those  where  the  ease  is  more  and 
more  questionable.  The  first  group,  therefore,  contains  all  those 
items  where  the  case  is  clearest  and  in  connection  with  which  the 
immediate  benefits  would  fall  to  the  workers.  The  second  group 
contains  the  more  questionable  items,  which  lie  beyond  the  region 
where  the  shoe  actually  pinches  the  worker.  These  questions  are 
largely  educational,  and  the  immediate  benefit  of  action,  considered 
as  a  business  proposition,  would  accrue  to  the  management  through 
the  greater  understanding  of  management  and  business  difficulties 
on  the  part  of  the  workers. 

1.  Questions  in   connection  with  which   Shop   Organizations  would 

primarily  benefit  the  Workers. 

This  group  deals  with  those  matters  where  the  case  for  establish- 
ing shop  organizations,  to  meet  the  need  of  the  workers,  is  clearest, 
(a)   Collective  Bargaining. 

There  is  a  need  for  machinery  for  carr>'ing  this  function  of  the 


55^'  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

tnulc  iinictii  intu  ^rciiter  luid  more  intimate  workshop  detail  than 
is  possible  by  any  outside  body.  A  workshop  organization  might 
supplement  the  ordinary  trade  union  activities  in  the  following 
directions : — 

1.  Wayes. 

(Note. — General  standard  rates  would  be  fixed  by  negotiation 
with  the  trade  union  for  an  entire  district,  not  by  committees  of 
workers  in  individual  works.) 

To  ensure  the  application  of  standard  rates  to  individuals,  to 
see  that  they  get  the  benefit  of  the  trade  union  agreements. 

Where  a  scale  of  wages,  instead  of  a  single  rate,  applies  to  a 
class  of  work  (the  exact  figure  varying  according  to  the  experi- 
ence, length  of  service,  etc.,  of  the  worker)  to  see  that  such  scales 
are  applied  fairly. 

To  see  that  promises  of  advances  (such  as  those  made,  for  in- 
stance, at  the  time  of  engagement)  are  fulfilled. 

To  see  that  apprentices,  on  completing  their  time,  are  raised  to 
the  standard  rate  by  the  customary  or  agreed  steps. 

2.  Piece-Work  Rates. 

(It  is  assumed  that  the  general  method  of  rate  fixing — e.g.,  the 
adoption  of  time  study  or  other  method — would  be  settled  with  the 
local  trade  unions.) 

To  discuss  with  the  management  the  detailed  methods  of  rate 
fixing,  as  applied  either  to  individual  jobs  or  to  particular  classes 
of  work. 

Where  there  is  an  agreed  relation  between  time  fates  and  piece 
rates  as,  for  instance,  in  engineering,  to  see  that  individual  piece 
rates  are  so  set  as  to  yield  the  standard  rate  of  earning. 

To  discuss  with  the  management  reduction  of  piece  rates  where 
these  can  be  shown  to  yield  higher  earnings  than  the  standard. 

To  investigate  on  behalf  of  the  workers  complaints  as  to  in- 
ability to  earn  the  standard  rate.  For  this  purpose  all  the  data 
and  calculations,  both  with  regard  to  the  original  setting  of  the 
rate  and  with  regard  to  time  booking  on  a  particular  job,  would 
have  to  be  open  for  examination. 

Note. — It  is  doubtful  whether  a  shop  committee,  on  account  of 
its  cumbersomeness,  could  ever  handle  detail,  individual  rates,  except 
where  the  jobs  dealt  with  are  so  large  or  so  standardized  as  to  make 
the  number  of  rates  to  be  set  per  week  quite  small.  A  better  plan 
would  be  for  a  representative  of  the  workers,  preferably  paid  by 
them,  to  be  attached  to  the  rate-fixing  department  of  a  works,  to 
check  all  calculations,  and  to  look  after  the  workers'  interests  gen- 


APPENDIX  L  553 

erally.     He   would  report  to   a  shop  committee,   whose   discussions 
with  the  management  would  then  be  limited  to  questions  of  principle. 

3.  Watching    the   Application   of   Special    Legislation,   Awards,    or 
Agreements — e.g., 

Munitions  of  War  Act,  Dilution,  Leaving  Certificates,  etc. 
Recruiting,  Exemptions. 

After-War-Arrangements,  Demobilization  of  War  Industries, 
Restoration  of  Trade  Union  Conditions,  etc. 

4.  Total  Hours  of  Work. 

To  discuss  any  proposed  change  in  the  length  of  the  standard 
week.  This  could  only  be  done  by  the  workers'  committee  of  an 
individual  firm,  provided  the  change  were  within  the  standards 
fixed  by  agreement  with  the  local  union  or  those  customary  in  the 
trade. 

5.  New  Processes  or  Change  of  Process. 

Where  the  management  desire  to  introduce  some  process  which 
will  throw  men  out  of  employment,  the  whole  position  should  be 
placed  before  a  shop  committee  to  let  the  necessity  be  understood, 
and  to  allow  it  to  discuss  how  the  change  may  be  brought  about 
with  the  least  hardship  to  individuals. 

6.  Grades  of  Worker  for  Types  of  Machine. 

Due  to  the  introduction  of  new  types  of  machines,  and  to  tlie 
splitting  up  of  processes,  with  the  simi)lifieation  of  manipulation 
sometimes  entailed  thereby,  the  question  of  the  grade  of  worker  to 
be  employed  on  a  given  type  of  machine  continually  arises.  Many 
such  questions  are  so  general  as  to  be  the  subject  of  trade  union 
negotiation,  but  many  more  are  quite  local  to  particular  finns. 
For  either  kind  there  should  be  a  works  committee  within  the 
works  to  deal  with  their  application  there. 

(b)   Grievances, 

The  quick  ventilating  of  grievances  and  injustices  to  individuals 
or  to  classes  of  men,  is  of  the  greatest  importance  in  securing  good 
feeling.  The  provision  of  means  for  voicing  such  complaints  acts 
also  as  a  check  to  petty  tyranny,  and  is  a  valuable  help  to  the  higher 
management  in  giving  an  insight  into  what  is  going  on. 

A  shop  committee  provides  a  suitable  channel  in  such  cases  as 
the  following: — 

Alleged  petty  tyranny  by  foremen. 

Hard  cases  arising  out  of  too  rigid  application  of  rules,  etc. 

Alleged  mistakes  in  wages  or  piece  woik  payments. 

Wrongful  dismissal,  e.g.,  for  alleged  disobedience,  etc.,  etc. 


554  mana(;kmknt  and  men 

III  all  casi'S  ui"  grioviuici-s  or  <'inn|)liiint.s  it  is  most  important  that 
the  body  bringinj;  tiiem  siiould  be  ol'  sullicient  weight  and  standing 
to  speak  its  mind  i'reely. 
(c)   General  Shop  Conditions  and  Amenities. 

On  all  those  questions  which  aliect  the  community  life  of  the  fac- 
tory, the  fullest  consultation  is  necessary,  and  considerable  self- 
government  is  possible. 

The  following  indicate  the  kind  of  question: — 

1.  b'liop  Rules. 

Restriction  of  smoking. 
Tidiness,  cleaning  of  machines,  etc. 
Use  of  lavatories  and  cloakrooms. 
Provision,  care,  and  type  of  overalls. 
Time-booking  arrangements. 
Wage-paying  arrangements,  etc.,  etc. 

2.  Maintenance  of  Discipline. 

It  should  be  possible  to  promote  such  a  spirit  in  a  works  that, 
not  only  could  the  workers  have  a  say  in  the  drawing  up  of  Shop 
Rules,  but  the  enforcing  of  them  could  also  be  largely  in  their 
hands.     This  would  be  particularly  desirable  with  regard  to : — 

Enforcing  good  time-keeping. 

Maintaining  tidiness. 

Use  of  lavatories  and  cloakrooms. 

Promoting  a  high  standard  of  general  behavior. 

Etc.,  etc. 

3.  Working  Conditions. 

Meal  hours,  starting  and  stopping  times. 
Arrangements  for  holidays,  etc. 
Arrangement  of  shifts,  night  work,  etc. 

4.  Accidents  and  Sickness. 

Safety  appliances  and  practices. 

Machine  guards,  etc. 

Administration  of  First  Aid. 

Rest  room  arrangements.  ; 

Medical  examination  and  advice. 

5.  Dining  Service. 

Consultation  re  requirements. 
Criticisms  of  and  suggestions  re  service. 
Control  of  discipline  and  beha^^or. 
Seating  arrangements,  etc. 


APPENDIX  L  555 

6.  Shop  Comfort  and  Hygiene. 

Suggestions  re  temperature,   ventilation,  washing  accommo- 
dation, drj-ing  clothes,  etc. 

Provision  of  seats  at  work,  where  possible. 
Drinking  water  supply. 

7.  Benevolent  Work. 

Shop   collections   for  charities   or   hard   cases   among   fellow 
workers. 

Sick  Club,  Convalescent  Home,  etc. 
Saving  Societies. 
{d)   General  Social  Amenities. 

A  works  tends  to  become  a  center  of  social  activities  having  no 
direct  connection  with  its  work,  for  example: — 
Works  Picnics. 

Games,  e.g.,  Cricket,  Football,  etc. 
Musical  Societies. 
Etc.,  etc. 
These  should  all  be  organized  by  committees  of  the  workers  and 
not  by  the  management. 

2.  Questions  on  ivhich  joint  discussion  would  primarily  he  of  ad- 
vantage to  the  Management. 

In  this  group  are  those  questions  with  regard  to  which  there  is 
no  demand  put  forward  by  the  workers,  but  where  discussion  and 
explanation  on  the  part  of  the  management  would  be  desirable, 
and  would  tend  to  ease  some  of  the  difficulties  of  management. 
The  institution  of  works  committees  would  facilitate  discussion  and 
explanation  in  the  following  instances : — 

(a)  Interpretation  of  Management  to  Workers. 

In  any  case  of  new  rules  or  new  developments,  or  new  workshop 
policy,  there  is  alwaj's  the  greatest  difficulty  in  getting  the  rank  and 
file  to  understand  what  the  management  is  "getting  at."  However 
well-meaning  the  change  may  be  as  regards  the  workers,  the  mere 
fact  that  it  is  new  and  not  understood  is  likely  to  lead  to  opposi- 
tion. If  the  best  use  is  made  of  committees  of  workers,  such 
changes,  new  developments,  etc.,  would  have  been  discussed,  and 
explained  to  them,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  expect  that  the  mem- 
bers of  such  committees  would  eventually  si)read  a  more  correct 
and  sympathetic  version  of  the  management's  intentions  among 
their  fellow-workers  than  these  could  get  in  any  other  way. 

(b)  Education  in  Shop  Processes  and  Trade  Technique. 

The  knowledge  of  most  workers  is  limited  to  the  process  with 
which  they  are  concerned,  and  they  would  have  a  truer  sense  of 


556  MANAGEiMENT  AND  MEN 

industrial  pr()t)I('ins  if  they  understood  better  the  general  technique 
of  the  industry  in  which  they  are  concerned,  and  the  relation  of  their 
particular  process  to  otiicrs  in  tlie  ciiain  oi'  manufacture  from  raw 
material  to  finished  article. 

It  is  possible  that  some  of  this  education  should  be  undertaken 
by  technical  schools,  but  their  work  in  this  respect  can  only  be  of 
a  general  nature,  leaving  still  a  field  for  detailed  teaching  which 
could  only  be  undertaken  in  connection  with  an  individual  lirm,  or 
a  small  group  of  similar  firms.  Such  education  might  well  begin 
with  the  members  of  the  committee  of  workers,  though  if  found 
feasible  it  should  not  stop  there,  but  should  be  made  general  for  the 
whole  works.  Any  such  scheme  should  be  discussed  and  worked 
out  in  conjunction  with  a  committee  of  workers,  in  order  to  obtain 
the  best  from  it. 
(c)   Promotion. 

It  is  open  to  question  whether  the  filling  of  any  given  vacancy 
could  profitably  be  discussed  between  the  management  and  the 
workers. 

In  connection  with  such  appointments  as  shop  foremen,  where 
the  position  is  filled  by  promoting  a  workman  or  "leading  hand," 
it  would  at  least  be  advisable  to  announce  the  appointment  to  the 
workers'  committee  before  making  it  generally  known.  It  might 
perhaps  be  possible  to  explain  why  a  particular  choice  had  been 
made.  This  would  be  indicated  fairly  well  by  a  statement  of  the 
qualities  which  the  management  deemed  necessary  for  such  a  post, 
thereby  tending  to  head  off  some  of  the  jealous  disappointment 
always  involved  in  such  promotions,  especially  where  the  next  in 
seniority  is  not  taken. 

It  has  of  course  been  urged,  generally  by  extremists,  that  work- 
men should  choose  their  own  foremen  by  election,  but  this  is  not 
considered  practical  politics  at  present,  though  it  may  become  pos- 
sible and  desirable  when  workers  have  had  more  practice  in  the 
exercise  of  self-management  to  the  limited  degree  here  proposed. 

One  of  the  difficulties  involved  in  any  general  discussion  of  pro- 
motions, is  the  fact  tliat  there  are  so  many  parties  concerned,  and 
all  from  a  different  point  of  view.  For  example,  in  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  foreman,  the  workers  are  concerned  as  to  how  far  the 
new  man  is  sympathetic  and  helpful,  and  inspiring  to  work  for. 
The  other  foremen  are  concerned  with  how  far  he  is  their  equal  in 
education  and  technical  attainments,  social  standing,  length  of 
service,  i.e.,  as  to  whether  he  would  make  a  good  colleague.  The 
manager  is  concerned,  among  other  qualities,  with  his  energy,  loy- 
alty to  the  firm,  and  ability  to  maintain  discipline.     Each  of  these 


APPENDIX  L  557 

three  parties  is  looking  for  three  different  sets  of  qualities,  and  it 
is  not  often  that  a  candidate  can  be  found  to  satisfy  all.  Whose 
views  then  should  carry  most  weight — the  men's,  the  other  fore- 
men's, or  the  manager's? 

It  is  quite  certain,  however,  that  it  is  well  worth  while  making 
some  attempt  to  secure  popular  understanding  and  approval  of 
appointments  made,  and  a  worker's  committee  offers  the  best  op- 
portunity for  this. 

It  would  be  possible  to  discuss  a  vacancy  occurring  in  any  grade 
with  all  the  others  in  that  grade.  For  example,  to  discuss  with  all 
shop  foremen  the  possible  candidates  to  fill  a  vacancy  among  the 
foremen.  This  is  probably  better  than  no  discussion  at  all,  and 
the  foremen  might  be  expected,  to  some  extent,  to  reflect  the  feeling 
among  their  men.  Here  again,  the  establishing  of  any  such  scheme 
might  well  be  discussed  with  the  committee  of  workers. 
(d)  Education  in  General  Business  Questions. 

This  point  is  still  more  doubtful  than  the  preceding.  Employers 
continually  complain  that  the  workers  do  not  understand  the  re- 
sponsibilities and  the  risks  which  they,  as  employers,  have  to  carry, 
and  it  would  seem  desirable  therefore  to  take  some  steps  to  enable 
them  to  do  so.     In  some  directions  this  would  be  quite  feasible,  e.g.: 

1.  The  reasons  should  be  explained  and  discussed  for  the  establish- 
ment of  new  works  departments,  or  the  re-organization  of  ex- 
isting ones,  the  relation  of  the  new  arrangement  to  the  general 
manufacturing  policy  being  demonstrated. 

2.  Some  kind  of  simplified  works  statistics  might  be  laid  before  a 
committee  of  workers.     For  example: 

Output. 

Cost  of  new  equipment  installed. 

Cost  of  tools  used  in  given  period. 

Cost  of  raw  material  consumed. 

Numbers  employed. 

Amount  of  bad  work  produced. 

3.  Reports  of  activities  of  other  parts  of  the  business  might  be 
laid  before  them : 

1.  From  the  commercial  side,  showing  the  difficulties  to  be 
met,  the  general  attitude  of  customers  to  the  firm,  etc. 

2.  By  the  chief  technical  departments,  design  office,  labora- 
tory, etc.,  as  to  the  general  technical  developments  or  diffi- 
culties that  were  being  dealt  with.  Much  of  such  work  need 
not  be  kept  secret,  and  would  tend  to  show  the  workers  that 
other  factors  enter  into  the  production  of  economic  wealth 
besides  manual  labor. 


668  MANACJEMENT  AND  MEN 

4.  Simple  business  reports,  sliowing  general  trade  prospects, 
inij^lit  be  presented.  Tliese  are  perhaps  most  diGcult  to  give, 
in  any  intellifi;ible  t'umi,  without  publisiiing  matter  which  every 
management  would  ol)ject  to  showing.  Still,  the  attempt  would 
be  well  worth  making,  and  would  show  the  workers  how  nar- 
row is  the  margin  between  financial  success  and  failure  on 
which  most  manufacturing  businesses  work.  Such  statistics 
might,  perhaps,  be  expressed  not  in  actual  amounts  but  as 
proportions  of  the  wages  bill  for  the  same  period. 

Section  II 

TYPES   OF  ORGANIZATION 

Having  dealt  in  the  previous  section  with  the  kinds  of  questions, 
which,  judged  simply  by  their  nature,  would  admit  of  joint  discus- 
sion or  handling,  it  is  now  necessary  to  consider  what  changes  are 
needed  in  the  structure  of  business  management  to  carry  out  such 
proposals.  The  development  of  the  necessary  machinery  presents 
very  considerable  difficulties  on  account  of  the  slowness  of  action 
and  lack  of  executive  precision  which  almost  necessarily  accom- 
pany democratic  organization,  and  which  it  is  the  express  object  of 
most  business  organizations  to  avoid. 

The  question  of  machinery  for  joint  discussion  and  action  is  con- 
sidered in  this  section  in  three  aspects: — 

1.  The  requirements  which  such  machinery  must  satisfy. 

2.  The  influence  of  various  industrial  conditions  on  the  type  of 
machinery  likely  to  be  adopted  in  particular  trades  or  works. 

3.  Some  detailed  suggestions  of  shop  committees  of  varying  scope. 

1.  Requirements  to  be  satisfied 
(a)   Keeping  in  Touch  with  the  Trade  Union. 

It  is  obvious  that  no  works  committee  can  be  a  substitute  for  the 
trade  union,  and  no  attempt  must  be  made  by  the  employer  to  use 
it  in  this  way.  To  allay  any  trade  union  suspicion  that  this  is  the 
intention,  and  to  ensure  that  the  shop  committee  links  up  with  the 
trade  union  organization,  it  would  be  advisable  to  see  that  the  trade 
union  is  represented  in  some  fairly  direct  manner.  This  is  spe- 
cially important  for  any  committee  dealing  with  wages,  piece  work 
and  such  other  working  conditions  as  are  the  usual  subject  of  trade 
imion  action. 

In  the  other  direction,  it  will  be  necessary  for  the  trade  unionists 
to  develop  some  means  of  working  shop  committees  into  their  scheme 
of  organization,  otherwise  there  will  be  the  danger  of  a  works  com- 


APPENDIX  L  559 

mittee,  able  to  act  more  quickly  through  being  on  the  spot,  usurping 
the  place  of  the  local  district  committee  of  the  trade  unions. 

(6)   Representation  of  all  Grades. 

The  desirability  of  having  all  grades  of  workers  represented  on 
works  committees  is  obvious,  but  it  is  not  always  easy  to  carry  out 
owing  to  the  complexity  of  the  distribution  of  labor  in  most  works. 
Thus,  it  is  quite  common  for  a  single  department,  say  in  an  engi- 
neering works,  to  contain  several  grades  of  workers,  from  skilled 
tradesmen  to  laborers,  and  possibly  women.  These  grades  will  be- 
long to  different  unions,  and  there  may  even  be  different,  and  per- 
haps competing,  unions  represented  in  the  same  grade.  Many  of 
the  workers  also  will  not  be  in  any  union  at  all. 

(c)   Touch  with  Management. 

As  a  large  part  of  the  aim  of  the  whole  development  is  to  give 
the  workers  some  sense  of  management  problems  and  point  of  view, 
it  is  most  desirable  that  meetings  between  works  committees  and 
management  should  be  frequent  and  regular,  and  not  looked  on 
merely  as  means  of  investing  grievances  or  deadlocks  when  they 
arise.  The  works  committee  must  not  be  an  accidental  excrescence 
on  the  management  structure,  but  must  be  worked  into  it  so  as  to 
become  an  integral  part,  with  real  and  necessary  functions. 

{d)  Rapidity  of  Action. 

Delays  in  negotiations  between  employers  and  labor  are  a  constant 
source  of  irritation  to  the  latter.  Every  effort  should  be  made  to 
reduce  them.  Where  this  is  impossible,  due  to  the  complication  of 
the  questions  involved,  the  works  committee  should  be  given  enough 
information  to  convince  it  of  this,  and  that  the  delay  is  not  a  de- 
liberate attempt  to  shirk  the  issue. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  desire  to  attain  rapidity  of  action  should 
not  lead  to  haphazard  and  "scratch"  discussions  or  negotiations. 
These  will  only  result  in  confusion,  owing  to  the  likelihood  that 
some  of  those  who  ought  to  take  part  or  be  consulted  over  each 
question  will  be  left  out,  or  have  insufficient  opportunity  for  weigh- 
ing up  the  matter.  The  procedure  for  working  with  or  through 
works  committees  must,  therefore,  be  definite  and  constitutional,  so 
that  every  one  knows  how  to  get  a  grievance  or  suggestion  put  for- 
ward for  consideration,  and  every  one  concerned  will  be  sure  of  re- 
ceiving due  notice  of  the  matter. 

The  procedure  must  not  be  so  rigid,  however,  as  to  preclude 
emergency  negotiations  to  deal  with  sudden  crises. 


560  MANAGEiMENT  AND  MEN 

2.  Influence  of  various  industrial  conditions  on  the  type  of  organi- 
zation of  Shop  Committees. 

There  is  no  one  type  of  shop  committee  that  will  suit  all  condi- 
tions.    Some   industries    can    develop    more   easily    in    one   direction 
and  some  in  another,  and  in   this  subsection  are  pointed  out  some 
of  tlie  conditions  whicli  are  likely  to  inlluence  this. 
(d)    Type  of  Labor. 

The  constitution  of  works  committees,  or  the  scheme  of  commit- 
tees, which  will  suitably  represent  the  workers  of  any  particular 
factory,  will  depend  very  largely  on  the  extent  to  which  different 
trades  and  different  grades  of  workers  are  involved. 

In  the  simplest  kind  of  works,  where  only  one  trade  or  craft  is 
carried  out,  the  workers,  even  thougli  of  different  degrees  of  skill, 
would  probably  all  be  elitrible  for  the  same  trade  union.  In  such 
a  ease  a  purely  trade  union  organization,  but  based  of  course  on 
works  departments,  would  meet  most  of  tlie  requirements,  and  would 
probably,  in  fact,  be  already  in  existence. 

In  many  works,  however,  at  least  in  the  engineering  industry,  a 
number  of  different  "trades"  are  carried  on.  For  instance,  turn- 
ing, automatic  machine  operating,  blacksmithing,  pattern-making, 
foundry  work,  etc.  Many  of  these  trades  are  represented  by  the 
same  trade  union,  though  the  interests  of  the  various  sections  are 
often  antagonistic,  e.g.,  in  the  ease  of  turners  and  automatic  ma- 
chine operators.  Some  of  the  other  trades  mentioned  belong  to 
different  unions  altogether.  In  addition  to  these  "tradesmen,"  will 
be  found  semi-skilled  and  unskilled  laborers.  For  the  most  part 
these  will  belong  to  no  union,  though  a  few  may  belong  to  laboring 
unions  which,  however,  have  no  special  connection  with  the  engi- 
neering unions.  In  addition  to  all  these,  there  may  be  women,  whose 
position  in  relation  to  men's  unions  is  still  uncertain,  and  some  of 
whose  interests  will  certainly  be  opposed  to  those  of  some  of  the 
men. 

The  best  way  of  representing  all  these  different  groups  will  de- 
pend on  their  relative  proportion  and  distribution  in  any  given 
works.  Where  women  are  employed  in  any  considerable  numbers, 
it  will  probably  be  advisable  for  them  to  be  represented  inde- 
pendently of  the  men.  For  tlie  rest  it  will  probably  be  necessary 
to  have  at  least  two  kinds  of  works  committees:  one  representing 
trade  unionists  as  such,  chosen  for  convenience  by  departments,  the 
other  representing  simply  works  departments.  The  first  would  deal 
with  wages  and  the  type  of  question  usually  forming  the  subject  of 
discutjsion  between  employers  and  trade  unions.  The  other  would 
deal  with  all  other  workshop  conditions.     The  first,  being  based  on 


APPENDIX  L  561 

trade  unions,  would  automatically  take  account  of  distinctions  be- 
tween different  trades  and  different  grades,  whereas  the  second 
would  be  dealing  with  those  questions  in  which  such  distinctions  do 
not  matter  very  much. 

(b)  Stability  and  Regularity  of  Employment. 

Where  work  is  of  an  irregular  or  seasonal  nature  and  workers 
are  constantly  being  taken  on  and  turned  off,  only  the  very  simplest 
kind  of  committee  of  workers  would  be  possible.  In  such  industries 
probably  nothing  but  a  trade  union  organization  within  the  works 
would  be  possible.  This  would  draw  its  strength  from  the  existence 
of  the  trade  union  outside,  which  would,  of  course,  be  largely  inde- 
pendent of  trade  fluctuations,  and  would  be  able  to  reconstitute  the 
works  committee  as  often  as  necessary,  thus  keeping  it  in  existence, 
even  should  most  of  the  previous  members  had  been  discharged 
through  slackness. 

(c)  Elaboration  of  Management  Organization. 

The  extent  to  which  management  functions  can  be  delegated,  or 
management  questions  and  policy  be  discussed  with  the  workers,  de- 
pends very  largely  on  the  degree  of  completeness  with  which  the 
management  itself  is  organized.  Where  this  is  haphazard  and  man- 
agement consists  of  a  succession  of  emergencies^  only  autocratic 
control  is  possible,  being  the  only  method  which  is  quick-acting  and 
mobile  enough.  Therefore,  the  better  organized  and  more  con- 
stitutional (in  the  sense  of  having  known  rules  and  procedures)  the 
management  is,  the  more  possible  is  it  for  policy  to  be  discussed  with 
the  workers. 

3.  Some  schemes  suggested. 

The  following  suggestions  for  shop  organizations  of  workers  are 
intended  to  form  one  scheme.  Their  individual  value,  however, 
does  not  depend  on  the  adoption  of  the  scheme  as  a  whole,  each  be- 
ing good  as  far  as  it  goes. 

(a)   Shop  Stewards  Committee. 

As  pointed  out  in  the  last  sub-section,  in  a  factorj'  where  the 
trade  union  is  strong,  there  will  probably  be  a  shop  stewards  or 
trade  union  committee  already  in  existence.  This  is,  of  course,  a 
committee  of  workers  only,  elected  generally  by  the  trade  union 
members  in  the  works,  to  look  after  their  interests  and  to  conduct 
negotiations  for  them  with  the  management.  Sometimes  the  stew- 
ards carry  out  other  purely  trade  union  work,  such  as  collecting 
subscriptions,  obtaining  new  members,  explaining  union  rules,  etc. 


662  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Such  a  committee  is  the  most  obvious  and  simplest  type  of  works 
committee,  and  where  the  composition  of  the  shop  is  simple,  i.e., 
mainly  one  trade,  with  no  very  great  diilerences  in  grade,  a  shop 
stewards  committee  could  deal  with  many  of  the  questions  laid  dtjwn 
as  suitable  for  joint  handling. 

It  is  doubtful,  however,  whether  a  shop  stewards  committee  can, 
or  should,  cover  the  full  range  of  workers'  activities,  except  in  the 
very  simplest  type  of  works.  The  mere  fact  that,  as  a  purely  trade 
union  orgjinization,  it  will  deal  primarily  with  wages  and  piece- 
work questions,  will  tend  to  introduce  an  atmosphere  of  bargaining, 
which  would  make  the  discussion  of  more  general  questions  very  dif- 
ficult. Further,  such  a  committee  would  be  likely  to  consider  very 
little  else  than  the  interests  of  the  trade  union,  or  of  themselves  as 
trade  unionists.  While  this  is  no  doubt  quite  legitimate  as  regards 
such  questions  as  wages,  the  more  general  questions  of  workshop 
amenities  should  be  considered  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  works 
as  a  community  in  which  the  workers  have  common  interests  with 
the  management  in  finding  and  maintaining  the  best  conditions  pos- 
sible. Moreover,  in  many  sliops,  where  workers  of  widely  differing 
grades  and  trades  are  employed,  a  shop  stewards  committee  is  not 
likely  to  represent  truly  the  whole  of  the  workers,  but  only  the 
better  organized  sections. 

The  shop  stewards  committee,  in  the  engineering  trade  at  least, 
is  fairly  certain  to  constitute  itself  without  any  help  from  the  man- 
agement. The  management  should  hasten  to  recognize  it,  and  give 
it  every  facility  for  carrying  on  its  business,  and  should  endeavor 
to  give  it  a  recognized  status  and  to  impress  it  with  a  sense  of  re- 
sponsibility. 

It  would  probably  be  desirable  that  shop  stewards  should  be 
elected  by  secret  ballot  rather  than  by  show  of  hands  in  open  meet- 
ing, in  order  that  the  most  responsible  men  may  be  chosen,  and  not 
merely  the  loudest  talkers  or  the  most  popular.  It  seems  better, 
also,  that  stewards  should  be  elected  for  a  certain  definite  term, 
instead  of  holding  office,  as  is  sometimes  the  case  now.  until  they 
resign,  leave  the  firm,  or  are  actually  deposed.  The  shop  stewards 
committee,  being  primarily  a  w'orkers'  and  trade  union  affair,  both 
these  points  are  outside  the  legitimate  field  of  action  of  the  manage- 
ment. The  latter's  willingness  to  recognize  and  work  through  the 
committee  should,  however,  confer  some  right  to  make  suggestions 
even  in  such  matters  as  these. 

The  facilities  granted  by  the  management  might  very  well  include 
a  room  on  the  works  premises  in  which  to  hold  meetings,  and  a  place 
to  keep  papers,  etc.     If  works  conditions  make  it  difficult  for  the 


APPENDIX  L  563 

stewards  to  meet  out  of  work  hours,  it  would  be  well  to  allow  them 
to  hold  committee  meetings  in  working  hours  at  recognized  times. 
The  management  should  also  arrange  periodic  joint  meetings  with 
the  committee,  to  enable  both  sides  to  bring  forward  matters  for 
discussion. 

The  composition  of  the  joint  meeting  between  the  committee  of 
shop  stewards  and  the  management  is  worth  considering  shortly. 
In  the  conception  here  set  forth,  the  shop  stewards  committee  is  a 
complete  entity  by  itself;  it  is  not  merely  the  workers'  section  of 
some  larger  composite  committee  of  management  and  workers. 
The  joint  meetings  are  rather  in  the  nature  of  a  standing  arrange- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  management  for  receiving  deputations  from 
the  workers.  For  this  purpose,  the  personnel  of  the  management 
section  need  not  be  fixed,  but  could  well  be  varied  according  to  the 
subjects  to  be  discussed.  It  should  always  include,  however,  the 
highest  executive  authority  concerned  with  the  works.  For  the  rest, 
there  might  be  the  various  departmental  managers,  and,  sometimes, 
some  of  the  foremen.  As  the  joint  meeting  is  not  an  instrument 
of  management,  taking  decisions  by  vote,  the  number  of  the  man- 
agement contingent  does  not  really  matter,  beyond  assuring  that  all 
useful  points  of  view  are  represented. 

Too  much  importance  can  hardly  be  laid  on  the  desirability  of 
regular  joint  meetings,  as  against  ad  hoc  meetings  called  to  discuss 
special  grievances.  According  to  the  first  plan,  each  side  becomes 
used  to  meeting  the  other  in  the  ordinary  way  of  business,  say,  once 
a  month,  when  no  special  issue  is  at  stake,  and  no  special  tension 
is  in  the  air.  Each  can  hardly  fail  to  absorb  something  of  the 
other's  point  of  view.  At  a  special  ad  hoc  meeting  on  the  other 
hand,  each  side  is  apt  to  regard  as  its  business,  not  the  discussion 
of  a  question  on  its  merits,  but  simply  the  making  out  of  a  case. 
And  the  fact  that  a  meeting  is  called  specially  means  that  expecta- 
tions of  results  are  raised  among  the  other  workers,  which  make  it 
diflBcult  to  allow  the  necessary  time  or  number  of  meetings  for  the 
proper  discussion  of  a  complicated  question. 

Where  women  are  employed  in  considerable  numbers  along  with 
men,  the  question  of  their  representation  by  stewards  becomes  im- 
portant. It  is  as  yet  too  early  to  say  how  this  situation  can  best  be 
met.  If  they  are  eligible  for  membership  of  the  same  trades  unions 
as  the  men,  the  shop  stewards  committee  might  consist  of  repre- 
sentatives of  both.  But,  considering  the  situation  whicli  will  arise 
after  the  war,  when  the  interests  of  the  men  and  of  the  women  will 
often  be  opposed,  this  solution  does  not  seem  very  promising  at 
present. 


664  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Another  i)l;in  would  he  for  a  separate  women's  shop  stewards 
committee  to  he  formed,  vvhieh  would  also  meet  the  management 
periodieally  and  be,  in  fact,  a  duplicate  of  the  men's  organization. 
It  would  prohahiy  also  hold  periodic  joint  meetings  with  the  men's 
committee,  to  unify  their  policies  as  far  as  possible.  This  plan  is 
somewhat  cumbersome,  but  it  seems  to  be  the  only  one  feasible  at 
present  on  account  of  the  divergence  of  interest  and  the  very  dif- 
ferent stage  of  development  in  organization  of  men  and  women. 

(b)   Social  Union. 

Some  organization  for  looking  after  recreation  is  in  existence  in 
many  works,  and  if  not,  there  is  much  to  be  said  for  the  institution 
of  such  a  body  as  the  social  unicm  here  described. 

Although  the  purpose  which  calls  together  the  members  of  a  works 
community  is,  of  course,  not  the  fostering  of  social  life  and  ameni- 
ties, there  is  no  doubt  that  members  of  such  communities  do  attain  a 
fuller  life  and  more  satisfaction  from  their  association  together, 
when  common  recreation  is  added  to  common  work.  It  may,  of 
course,  be  urged,  against  such  a  development  of  community  life  in 
industry,  that  it  is  better  for  people  to  get  away  from  their  work 
and  to  meet  quite  another  set  in  their  leisure  times.  This  is  no 
doubt  true  enough,  but  the  number  of  people  who  take  advantage 
of  it  is  probably  very  much  less  than  would  be  affected  by  social 
activities  connected  with  the  works.  The  development  of  such  ac- 
tivities will,  in  consequence,  almost  certainly  have  more  effect  in 
spreading  opportunities  for  fuller  life  than  it  will  have  in  restrict- 
ing them.  Moreover,  if  the  works  is  a  large  one,  the  diffrences  in 
outlook  between  the  various  sections  are  perhaps  quite  as  great  as 
can  be  met  with  outside.  For  this  reason,  the  cardinal  principle  for 
such  organizations  is  to  mix  up  the  different  sections  and  grades, 
especially  the  works  and  the  office  departments. 

The  sphere  of  the  social  union  includes  all  activities  other  than 
those  affecting  tlie  work  for  which  the  firm  is  organized.  This 
sphere  being  outside  the  work  of  the  firm,  the  organization  should 
be  entirely  voluntary  and  in  the  hands  of  the  workers,  though  the 
management  may  well  provide  facilities  such  as  rooms  and  placing 
fields. 

Two  main  schemes  of  organization  are  usual.  In  the  first  a 
general  council  is  elected  by  the  members,  or,  if  possible,  by  all  the 
employees,  irrespective  of  department  or  grade.  This  council  is 
responsible  for  the  general  policy  of  the  social  union,  holds  the 
funds,  and  undertakes  the  starting  and  supervising  of  smaller  or- 
ganizations for  specific  purposes.     Thus,  for  each  activity  a  club 


APPENDIX  L  365 

or  society  would  be  formed  under  the  auspices  of  the  council.  The 
clubs  would  manage  their  own  affairs  and  make  their  own  detail 
aiTangements. 

It  is  most  desirable  that  the  social  union  should  be  self-supporting 
as  far  as  running  expenses  go,  and  should  nut  be  subsidized  by  the 
management,  as  is  sometimes  done.  A  small  subscription  should  be 
paid  weekly  by  every  member,  such  subscription  admitting  them 
to  any  or  all  clubs.  The  funds  should  be  held  by  the  council,  and 
spent  according  to  the  needs  of  the  various  clubs,  not  according  to 
the  subscriptions  traceable  to  the  membership  of  each.  This  is 
very  much  better  than  making  the  finances  of  each  club  self-support- 
ing, since  it  emphasizes  the  "community"  feeling,  is  very  simple, 
and  enables  some  forms  of  recreation  to  be  carried  on  which  could 
not  possibly  be  made  to  pay  for  themselves. 

The  second  general  type  of  social  union  organization  involves 
making  the  clubs  themselves  the  basis.  Each  levies  its  own  sub- 
scriptions and  pays  its  own  expenses,  and  the  secretaries  of  the  clubs 
form  a  council  for  general  management.  This  is  a  less  desirable 
arrangement  because  each  member  of  the  council  is  apt  to  regard 
himself  as  there  only  to  look  after  the  interests  of  his  club,  rather 
than  the  whole.  Tlie  starting  of  new  activities  is  also  less  easy 
than  under  the  first  scheme. 

(c)    Welfare  Committee. 

The  two  organizations  suggested  so  far,  viz.,  shop  stewards  com- 
mittee and  social  union,  do  not  cover  the  whole  range  of  functions 
outlined  in  Section  I.  In  considering  how  much  of  that  field  still 
remains  to  be  covered,  it  is  simplest  first  to  mark  off,  mentally,  the 
sphere  of  the  social  union,  viz.,  social  activities  outside  working 
hours.  This  leaves  clear  the  real  problem,  viz.,  all  the  questions 
affecting  the  work  and  the  conditions  of  work  of  the  firm.  These 
are  then  conceived  as  falling  into  two  groups.  First  there  are 
those  questions  in  which  the  interests  of  the  workers  may  be  op- 
posed to  those  of  the  employer.  These  are  concerned  with  such 
matters  as  wage  and  piece  rates,  penalties  for  spoiled  work,  etc. 
With  regard  to  these,  discussion  is  bound  to  be  of  the  nature  of 
bargaining,  and  these  are  the  field  for  the  shop  stewards  committee, 
negotiating  by  means  of  the  periodical  joint  meetings  with  the  man- 
agement. 

There  remains,  however,  a  second  class  of  question,  in  which 
there  is  no  clash  of  interest  between  employer  and  employed.  These 
are  concerned  mainly  with  regulating  the  "community  life"  of  the 
works,   and   include   all   questions   of  general   shop   conditions   and 


566  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

amenities,  and   the  more  purely  educational   matters.     For  dealing 
with  this  group  a  composite  committee  of  management  and   work- 
ers, here  called  the  Welfare  Committee,  ls  suggested. 
This  would  consist  of  two  i)arts: — 

1.  Representatives  elected  by  workers. 

2.  Nominees  of  the  management. 

The  elected  side  might  well  represent  the  offices,  both  technical 
and  clerical,  as  well  as  the  works,  and  members  would  be  elected  by 
departments,  no  account  being  taken  of  the  various  grades.  Where 
women  are  employed,  it  would  probably  be  desirable  for  them  to 
elect  separate  representatives.  If  they  are  in  departments  by  them- 
selves, this  would  naturally  happen.  If  the  departments  are  mixed, 
the  men  and  women  of  such  departments  would  each  send  repre- 
sentatives. 

Tlie  trade  union  or  unions  most  concerned  with  the  work  of  the 
firm  should  be  represented  in  some  fairly  direct  way.  This  might 
be  done  in  either  of  two  ways: 

1.  If  a  shop  stewards  committee  exists,  it  might  be  asked  to  send 
one  or  more  representatives. 

2.  Or  each  of  the  main  trade  unions  represented  in  the  works 
might  elect  one  or  more  representatives  to  represent  their 
members  as  trade  unionists. 

The  management  section  should  contain,  in  general,  the  highest 
members  of  the  management  who  concern  themselves  with  the  run- 
ning of  the  works;  it  would  be  no  use  to  have  here  men  in  subor- 
dinate positions,  as  much  of  the  discussion  would  deal  with  matters 
beyond  their  jurisdiction.  Moreover,  the  opportunity  for  the  higher 
management  to  get  into  touch  with  the  workers  would  be  too  im- 
portant to  miss.  It  is  doubtful  whether  there  is  any  need  for  the 
workers'  section  of  the  welfare  committee  to  meet  separately,  though 
there  is  no  objection  to  this  if  thought  desirable.  In  any  case  a 
good  many  questions  can  be  handed  over  by  the  joint  meeting  to  sub- 
committees for  working  out,  and  such  sub-committees  can,  where 
desirable,  consist  entirely  of  workers. 

It  may  be  urged  that  the  welfare  committee  is  an  unnecessary 
complication,  and,  either  that  its  work  could  be  carried  out  by  the 
shop  stewards  committee  or  that  the  work  of  both  could  be  handled 
by  a  single  composite  shop  committee  of  management  and  workers. 
In  practice,  however,  a  committee  of  the  workers  sitting  separately 
to  consider  those  interests  tliat  are,  or  appear  to  be,  opposed,  with 
regular  deputations  to  the  management,  and  a  composite  committee 
of  workers  and  management  sitting  together  to  discuss  identical 
interests  would  seem  the  best  solution  of  a  difficult  problem. 


APPENDIX  L  567 

Everything  considered,  therefore,  there  seems,  in  many  works  at 
least,  to  be  a  good  ease  for  the  institution  of  both  organizations, 
that  of  the  shop  stewards  and  that  of  the  welfare  committee.  The 
conditions  making  the  latter  desirable  and  possible  would  seem  to 
be:— 

1.  A    management    sufficiently    methodical    and    constitutional    to 
make  previous  discussion  of  developments  feasible. 

2.  The  conditions  of  employment  fairly  stable. 

3.  The  trades  and  grades  included  in  the  shop  so  varied  and  inter- 
mixed as  to  make  representation  by  a  committee  of  trade  uni' 
shop  stewards  incomplete. 

Section  III 

SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSIONS  OP  SECTIONS  I  AND  II 

Gathering  together  the  views  and  suggestions  made  in  the  forego- 
ing pages;  it  is  felt  that  three  separate  organizations  within  the 
works  are  necessary  to  represent  the  workers  in  the  highly  developed 
and  elaborate  organisms  which  modern  factories  tend  to  become. 

It  is  not  sufficient  criticism  of  such  a  proposal  to  say  that  it  is 
too  complicated.  Modem  industry  is  complicated  and  the  attempt 
to  introduce  democratic  ideas  into  its  governance  will  necessarily 
make  it  more  so.  As  already  pointed  out,  the  scheme  need  not  be 
accepted  in  its  entirety.  For  any  trade  or  firm  fortunate  enough  to 
operate  under  simpler  conditions  than  those  here  assumed,  only 
such  of  the  suggestions  need  be  accepted  as  suit  its  case. 

The  scope  of  the  three  committees  is  shown  by  the  following  sum- 
mary : — 

(o)   Shop  Stewards  Committee. 
Sphere.     Controversial  questions  where  interests  of  employer  and 

worker  are  apparently  opposed. 
Constitution.     Consists  of  trade  unionist  workers  elected  by  works 
departments. 

Sits  by  itself,  but  has  regular  meetings  with  the  management. 
Examples  of  questions  dealt  with: 
Wage  and  piece  rates. 

The  carrying  out  of  trade  union  agreements. 
Negotiations  re  application  of  legislation  to  the  workers  repre- 
sented, e.g.,  dilution,  exemption  from  recruiting. 

The  carrying  out  of  national   agreements   re  restoration  of 
trade  union   conditions,  demobilization   of  war  industries,   etc. 
Introduction  of  new  processes. 


668  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

Ventilation  oi'  grievances  re  any  of  above. 
Etc.,  etc. 

(h)    Welfare  Committee. 
Sphere.     "Community"  question.s  where  there  is  no  clash  between 

interests  of  employer  and  worker. 
Conatitutiun.     Composite  committee  of  management  and  workers, 
with  some  direct  representation  of  trade  unions. 

Sits  as  one  body,  with  some  questions  relegated  to  sub-com- 
mittees, consisting  either  wholly  of  workers  or  of  workers  and 
management,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  case. 
Examples  of  Questions  dealt  with: 
Shop  rules. 

Such  working  conditions  as  starting  and  stopping  times,  meal 
hours,  night  shift  arrangements,  etc. 
Accident  and  sickness  arrangements. 
Shop  comfort  and  hygiene. 

Benevolent  work  such  as  collections  for  charities,  hard  cases 
of  illness  or  accident  among  the  workers. 
Education  schemes: 
Trade  technique. 
New  works  developments. 
Statistics  of  works  activity. 
Business  outlook. 
Promotions — explanation  and,  if  possible,  consultation. 
Ventilation  of  grievances  re  any  of  above. 

(c)   Social  Union. 
Sphere.     Social  amenities,  mainly  outside  working  hours. 
Constitution.     Includes   any   or  all  grades   of  management   and 
workers. 

Governing  body   elected  by   members   irrespective   of  trade, 
grade,  or  sex. 

Examples  of  Activities. 

Institution  of  clubs  for  sports — cricket,  football,  swimming, 
etc. 

Recreative  societies — orchestral,  choral,  debating,  etc. 
Arranging  social  events — picnics,   dances,  etc. 
Provision  of  games,  library,  etc.,  for  use  in  meal  hours. 
Administration  of  club  rooms. 


APPENDIX  L  569 

Section  IV 

COMMENTS  ON  WORKING 

An  attempt  to  institute  a  scheme  of  shop  committees  on  the  gen- 
eral lines  of  those  here  described,  revealed  certain  difficulties,  of 
which  the  following  are  instances. 

1.  Relations  with  Shop  Foremen 

If  a  works  committee  is  to  deal  with  the  actual  conditions  under 
which  work  is  carried  on,  and  if  its  work  is  to  be  real,  there  is  every 
possibility  of  friction  arising,  due  to  the  committee  infringing  the 
sphere  of  authority  of  the  shop  foremen.  Not  only  will  specific 
complaints  and  objections  regarding  actions  or  decisions  of  fore- 
men be  brought  up,  but  more  general  questions  of  shop  manage- 
ment will  be  discussed,  on  which  the  foremen  would  naturally  ex- 
pect to  be  consulted,  previously  to  their  men.  Some  of  these  diffi- 
culties would  be  lessened  if  the  foremen  were  members  of  the  works 
committees,  but  this  seems  hardly  possible,  except  in  very  small 
works. 

It  must  never  be  forgotten  that  the  foremen  have  definite  manage- 
ment functions  to  perform  which  cannot  be  discharged  if  their  au- 
thority is  continually  called  in  question,  or  if  they  are  continually 
harassed  by  complaints  behind  their  backs.  Nor  can  they  have  any 
prestige  if  arrangements  or  rules  affecting  their  control  or  method 
of  management  are  made  without  them  having  their  full  share  in  the 
discussion  of  them.  The  difficulty  arises,  therefore,  how  on  the 
one  hand,  to  maintain  the  foremen's  position  as  a  real  link  in  the 
chain  of  executive  authority,  and  on  the  other  hand  to  promote  direct 
discussion  between  the  workers  and  the  higher  management.  The 
solving  of  this  difficulty  depends  to  some  extent  at  least  on  the 
devising  of  suitable  procedure  and  machinery  for  keeping  all  grades 
of  management  in  touch  with  each  other,  and  for  confining  the 
activities  of  the  works  committees  to  fairly  definite  and  known 
spheres. 

The  exact  nature  of  this  machinery  would  depend  on  the  organ- 
ization of  each  particular  firm.  It  will,  in  general,  be  advisable  to 
lay  down  that  previous  notice  shall  be  given  of  all  subjects  to  be 
brought  up  at  a  works  committee  meeting,  so  that  a  full  agenda  may 
be  prepared.  This  agenda  should  then  be  circulated  freely  among 
the  shop  foremen,  and  other  grades  of  management,  so  that  they 
may  know  what  is  going  forward.  Full  minutes  of  the  proceedings 
of  all  meetings  should  be  kept,  and  these  again  should  be  circu- 
lated to  all  grades  of  management. 

To   facilitate   such   arrangements   it   may   be   advisable    for   the 


570  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

matiiif^'^orncnt  to  provide  a  secretary  whose  duties  would  be  twolidd; 
the  preparation  of  the  agenda,  and  the  writinfj  out  and  following 
up  of  the  minutes.  In  making  out  the  agenda  the  secretary  should 
make  full  inquiries  with  regard  to  all  subjects  brought  forward  by 
workers,  and  should  prepare  a  short  statement  of  each  case  to  issue 
with  the  agenda.  The  secretary  in  circulating  the  agenda  would 
then  be  able  to  learn,  from  the  foremen  and  others,  to  what  extent 
each  was  interested  or  concerned  in  any  particular  item.  Tho.se 
specially  concerned  might  then  be  invited  to  attend  the  meeting  to 
take  part  in  the  discussion.  If  a  foreman  intimated  that  he  had 
decided  views  on  some  subject  and  wished  them  to  be  taken  into 
account,  discussion  at  the  meeting  should  be  of  preliminary  nature 
only  and  limited  to  eliciting  the  full  case  as  seen  by  the  workers. 
Further  discussion  with  the  committee  would  be  reserved  until  the 
management  had  had  time  to  consult  the  foremen  or  others  con- 
cerned. 

The  certainty,  on  the  part  of  all  grades  of  management,  that  no 
subject  would  be  discussed  of  which  they  had  not  had  notice;  the 
privilege  of  having  final  discussion  of  any  subject  postponed,  pend- 
ing the  statement  of  their  views;  and  finally  the  circulation  of  all 
minutes,  showing  what  took  place  at  the  meetings,  should  go  a  long 
way  to  making  the  works  committees  run  smoothly. 

2.  Provision  of  facilities  for  committee  work 

For  any  recognized  works  committees,  the  management  should  see 
that  they  have  such  facilities  put  at  their  disposal  as  will  enable 
them  to  carry  out  their  work,  and  will  give  them  standing  and  au- 
thority in  the  works  community.  In  the  case  of  committees  dealing 
with  social  work  outside  the  direct  work  of  the  shop,  all  meetings 
and  work  can  be  expected  to  take  place  outside  working  hours. 
This  should  also  apply  in  a  general  way  to  meetings  of  shop  stew- 
ards or  of  the  welfare  committee,  but  it  may  happen,  as  for  instance 
where  a  night-shift  is  being  worked,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  for 
the  members  to  get  together  except  at  some  time  during  working 
hours.  In  such  cases  permission  should  be  given  for  meetings  at 
regular  stated  times,  say  once  a  fortnight,  or  once  a  month,  and  the 
attendance  at  these  meetings  would  be  considered  part  of  the  or- 
dinary work  of  the  members,  and  they  would  be  paid  accordingly. 
Where  possible,  however,  it  is  very  much  better  for  meetings  to  be 
arranged  entirely  outside  working  hours,  in  which  case  no  payment 
should  be  offered,  the  work  being  looked  on  as  in  the  nature  of 
voluntary  public  work. 

A  committee  room  should  be  provided,  and  in  the  case  of  the 


APPENDIX  L  571 

welfare  committee,  the  secretary  might  also  be  provided  by  the 
management.  For  firms  suitably  placed  it  is  most  desirable  that 
a  playing  field  should  be  provided,  suitably  laid  out  for  various 
games.  Rent  can  be  asked  for  it  by  the  management  if  thought 
desirable  and  can  be  paid  by  a  social  union  such  as  that  described 
here.  In  the  case  of  all  kinds  of  recognized  works  committees  the 
thing  to  aim  at  is  to  make  their  work  an  integral  part  of  the  organi- 
zation of  the  works  community,  providing  whatever  facilities  are 
needed  to  make  it  effective.  On  the  other  hand  anything  like  sub- 
sidizing of  works  committees  by  the  management  must  be  avoided. 

THE  LABOR  PARTY 

CONSTITUTION 

{Adopted  at  the  London  Conference,  February,  26th,  1918) 


APPENDIX  M 
LABOR  PARTY  CONSTITUTION 


1. — Name 
The  Labor  Party. 

2. — Membership 

The  Labor  Party  shall  consist  of  all  its  affiliated  organizations,^ 
together  with  those  men  and  women  who  are  individual  members  of 
a  Local  Labor  Party  and  who  subscribe  to  the  Constitution  and 
Program  of  the  Party. 

3. — Party  Objects 

national 

(a.)  To  organize  and  maintain  in  Parliament  and  in  the  country 
a  Political  Labor  Party,  and  to  ensure  the  establishment  of  a  Local 
Labor  Party  in  every  County  Constituency  and  every  Parliamentary 
Borough,  with  suitable  divisional  organization  in  the  separate  con- 
stituencies of  Divided  Boroughs; 

(b)  To  cooperate  with  the  Parliamentary  Committee  of  the  Trades 
Union  Congress,  or  other  Kindred  Organizations,  in  joint  political 
or  other  action  in  harmony  with  the  Party  Constitution  and  Stand- 
ing Orders; 

(c)  To  give  effect  as  far  as  may  be  practicable  to  the  principles 
from  time  to  time  approved  by  the  Party  Conference; 

(d)  To  secure  for  the  producers  by  hand  or  by  brain  the  full 
fruits  of  their  industry,  and  the  most  equitable  distribution  thereof 
that  may  be  possible,  upon  the  basis  of  the  common  ownership  of 
the  means  of  production  and  the  best  obtainable  system  of  popular 
administration  and  control  of  each  industry  or  service; 

(e)  Generally  to  promote  the  Political,  Social,  and  Economic 
Emancipation  of  the  People,  and  more  particularly  of  those  who 
depend  directly  upon  their  own  exertions  by  hand  or  by  brain  for 
the  means  of  life. 

INTER-DOMIXION 

(/)  To  cooperate  with  the  Labor  and  Socialist  organizations  in 
the  Dominions  and  Dependencies  with  a  view  to  promoting  the  pur- 

1  Trade  Unions,  Socialist  Societies,  Cooperative  Societies,  Trades 
Councils,  and  Local  Labor  Parties. 

572 


APPENDIX  M  573 

poses  of  the  Party  and  to  take  common  action  for  the  promotion  of 
a  higher  standard  of  social  and  economic  life  for  the  working  popu- 
lation of  the  respective  countries. 

INTERNATIONAL 

(^r)  To  cooperate  with  the  Labor  and  Socialist  organizations  in 
other  countries,  and  to  assist  in  organizing  a  Federation  of  Nations 
for  the  maintenance  of  Freedom  and  Peace,  for  the  establishment 
of  suitable  machinery  for  the  adjustment  and  settlement  of  Interna- 
tional Disputes  by  Conciliation  or  Judicial  Arbitration,  and  for  such 
International  Legislation  as  may  be  practicable. 

4. — Party  Program 

(a)  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Party  Conference  to  decide,  from 
time  to  time,  what  specific  proposals  of  legislative,  financial,  or  ad- 
ministrative reform  shall  receive  the  general  support  of  the  Party, 
and  be  promoted,  as  occasion  may  present  itself,  by  the  National 
Executive  and  the  Parliamentary  Labor  Party :  provided  that  no  such 
proposal  shall  be  made  definitely  part  of  the  General  Program  of 
the  Party  unless  it  has  been  adopted  by  the  Conference  by  a  majority 
of  not  less  than  two-thirds  of  the  votes  recorded  on  a  card  vote. 

(b)  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  National  Executive  and  the  Parlia- 
mentary Labor  Party,  prior  to  every  General  Election,  to  define 
the  principal  issues  for  that  Election  which  in  their  judgment  should 
be  made  the  Special  Party  Program  for  that  particular  Election 
Campaign,  which  shall  be  issued  as  a  manifesto  by  the  Executive  to 
all  constituencies  where  a  Labor  candidate  is  standing. 

(c)  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  every  Parliamentary  representative  of 
the  Party  to  be  guided  by  the  decision  of  the  meetings  of  such 
Parliamentary  representatives,  with  a  view  to  giving  effect  to  the 
decisions  of  the  Party  Conference  as  to  the  General  Program  of  the 
Party. 

5, — The  Party  Conference 

1.  The  work  of  the  Party  shall  be  under  the  direction  and  control 
of  the  Party  Conference,  which  shall  itself  be  subject  to  the  Con- 
stitution and  Standing  Orders  of  the  Party.  The  Party  Conference 
shall  meet  regularly  once  in  each  year,  and  also  at  such  other  times 
as  it  may  be  convened  by  the  National  Executive. 

2.  The  Party  Conference  shall  be  constituted  as  follows: — 

(a)   Trade  Unions  and  other  societies  affiliated  to  the  Party  may 

send  one  delegate  for  each  thousand  members  on  which  fees  are  paid. 

(6)  Local  Labor  Party  delegates  may  be  either  men  or  women 


r,7l  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

resident  or  liaving  a  place  of  business  in  the  constituency  they  rep- 
resent, and  sliall  be  ajjpointed  as  follows: — 

In  Borou{^li  and  County  Constituencies  returning  one  Member  to 
Parliament,  the  Local  Labor  Party  may  appoint  one  delegate. 

In  undivided  Boroughs  returning  two  Members,  two  delegates 
may  be  appointed. 

In  divided  Boroughs  one  delegate  may  be  appointed  for  each 
separate  constituency  within  the  area.  The  Local  Labor  Party 
within  the  constituency  shall  nominate  and  the  Central  Labor  Party 
of  the  Divided  Borough  shall  appoint  the  delegates.  In  addition 
to  such  delegates,  the  Central  Labor  Party  in  each  Divided  Borough 
may  appoint  one  delegate. 

An  additional  woman  delegate  may  be  appointed  for  each  con- 
stituency in  which  the  number  of  affiliated  and  individual  women 
members  exceeds  500. 

(c)  Trades  Councils  under  Section  8,  clause  c,  shall  be  entitled 
to  one  delegate. 

(d)  The  members  of  the  National  Executive,  including  the  Treas- 
urer, the  members  of  the  Parliamentary  Labor  Party,  and  the  duly- 
sanctioned  Parliamentary  Candidates  shall  be  ex-officio  members  of 
the  Party  Conference,  but  shall,  unless  delegates,  have  no  right  to 
vote. 

6. — The  National  Executive 

(a)  There  shall  be  a  National  Executive  of  the  Party  consisting 
of  twenty-three  members  (including  the  Treasurer)  elected  by  the 
Party  Conference  at  its  regular  Annual  Meeting,  in  such  proportion 
and  under  such  conditions  as  may  be  set  out  in  the  Standing  Orders 
for  the  time  being  in  force,  and  this  National  Executive  shall,  sub- 
ject to  the  control  and  directions  of  the  Party  Conference,  be  the 
Administrative  Authority  of  the  Party. 

{b)  The  National  Executive  shall  be  responsible  for  the  conduct 
of  the  general  work  of  the  Party.  The  National  Executive  shall 
take  steps  to  ensure  that  the  Party  is  represented  by  a  properly 
constituted  organization  in  each  constituency  in  which  this  is  found 
practicable;  it  shall  give  effect  to  the  decisions  of  the  Party  Confer- 
ence; and  it  shall  interpret  the  Constitution  and  Standing  Orders 
and  Rules  of  the  Party  in  all  cases  of  dispute  subject  to  an  appeal 
to  the  next  regular  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Party  Conference  by  the 
organization  or  person  concerned. 

(c)  The  National  Executive  shall  confer  with  the  Parliamentary 
Labor  Party  at  the  opening  of  each  Parliamentary  Session,  and  also 
at  any  other  time  when  the  National  Executive  or  the  Parliamentary 
Party  may  desire  such  conference,  on  any  matters  relating  to  the 


APPENDIX  M  575 

work  and  progress  of  the  Party,  or  to  the  efforts  necessary  to  give 
effect  to  the  General  Program  of  the  Party. 

7. — Parliamentary  Candidatures 

(a)  The  National  Executive  shall  cooperate  with  the  Local  Labor 
Party  in  any  constituency  with  a  view  to  nominating  a  Labor  Can- 
didate at  any  Parliamentary  General  or  Bye-Election.  Before  any 
Parliamentary  Candidate  can  be  regarded  as  finally  adopted  for 
a  constituency  as  a  Candidate  of  the  Labor  Party,  his  candidature 
must  be  sanctioned  by  the  National  Executive. 

(b)  Candidates  approved  by  the  National  Executive  shall  appear 
before  their  constituencies  under  the  designation  of  "Labor  Candi- 
date" only.  At  any  General  Election  they  shall  include  in  their 
Election  Addresses  and  give  prominence  in  their  campaigns  to  the 
issues  for  that  Election  as  defined  by  the  National  Executive  from 
the  General  Party  Program.  If  they  are  elected  they  shall  act  in 
harmony  with  the  Constitution  and  Standing  Orders  of  the  Party 
in  seeking  to  discharge  the  responsibilities  established  by  Parlia- 
mentary practice. 

(c)  Party  Candidates  shall  receive  financial  assistance  for  election 
expenditure  from  the  Party  funds  on  the  following  basis: — 

Borough  Constituencies,  £1  per  1,000  electors. 
County  Divisions,  £1  15s.  per  1,000  electors. 

8. — Affiliation  Fees 

1.  Trade  Unions,  Socialist  Societies,  Cooperative  Societies,  and 
other  organizations  directly  affiliated  to  the  Party  (but  not  being 
afiSliated  Local  Labor  Parties  or  Trades  Councils)  shall  pay  2d. 
per  member  per  annum  to  the  Central  Party  Funds  with  a  minimum 
of  30s. 

The  membership  of  a  Trade  Union  for  the  purpose  of  this  clause 
shall  be  those  members  contributing  to  the  political  fund  of  the 
Union  established  under  the  Trade  Union  Act,  1913. 

2.  The  affiliation  of  Trades  Councils  will  be  subject  to  the  follow- 
ing conditions: — 

(a)  Where  Local  Labor  Parties  and  Trades  Councils  at  present 
exist  in  the  same  area  every  effort  must  be  made  to  amalgamate  these 
bodies,  retaining  in  one  organization  the  industrial  and  political 
functions,  and  incorporating  the  constitution  and  rules  for  Local 
Labor  Parties  in  the  rules  of  the  amalgamated  body. 

(b)  Where  no  Local  Labor  Party  is  in  existence  and  the  Trades 
Council  is  discharging  the  political  functions,  such  Trades  Council 
shall  be  eligible  for  affiliation  as  a  Local  Labor  Party,  providing 


576  MANAGEMEiNT  AND  MEN 

that  its  rules  and  title  be  extended  so  as  to  include  Local  Labor 
Party  functions. 

(c)  Where  a  Local  Labor  Party  and  a  Trades  Council  exist  in  the 
same  area,  the  Trades  Council  shall  be  eligible  to  be  affiliated  to  the 
Local  Labor  Party,  but  not  to  the  National  Party,  except  in  such 
cases  where  the  Trades  Council  was  affiliated  to  tlie  National  Party 
prior  to  November  1st,  1917.  In  these  cases  the  Executive  Commit- 
tee shall  have  power  to  continue  national  affiliation  on  such  condi- 
tions as  may  be  deemed  necessary. 

(d)  Trades  Councils  included  under  Section  (c)  shall  pay  an  an- 
nual affiliation  fee  of  30s. 

Local  Labor  Parties  must  charge  individually  enrolled  members, 
male  a  minimum  of  Is.  per  annum,  female  6d.  per  annum ;  and  2d. 
per  member  so  collected  must  be  remitted  to  the  Central  Office  with 
a  minimum  of  30s.,  as  the  affiliation  fee  of  sucli  Local  Labor  Party. 

In  addition  to  these  payments,  a  delegation  fee  of  5s.  to  the 
Party  Conference  or  any  Special  Conference  may  be  charged. 

STANDING  ORDERS 
1. — Annual  Conference 

1.  The  National  Executive  shall  convene  the  Annual  Party  Con- 
ference for  the  month  of  June  (but  not  at  Whitsuntide)  in  each 
year,  subject  to  the  Constitution  and  the  Standing  Orders,  and  shall 
convene  other  Sessions  of  the  Party  Conference  from  time  to  time 
as  may  be  required. 

2.  In  the  event  of  it  being  necessary  to  convene  the  Party  Con- 
ference upon  short  notice,  in  order  to  deal  with  some  sudden  emer- 
gency, the  Secretaries  of  the  affiliated  organizations  and  Local  Labor 
Parties  shall,  on  receiving  the  summons,  instantly  take  such  action 
as  may  be  necessary  to  enable  the  Society  or  Constituency  to  be 
represented,  in  accordance  with  the  rules. 

3.  Any  Session  of  the  Party  Conference  summoned  with  less  than 
ten  days'  notice  shall  confine  its  business  strictly  to  that  relating  to 
the  emergency,  which  cannot  without  detriment  to  the  Party  be 
postponed. 

4.  Persons  eligible  as  delegates  must  be  paying  bona  fide  members, 
or  paid  permanent  officials  of  the  organization  sending  them. 

5.  No  delegate  to  the  Conference  shall  represent  more  than  one 
Society. 

6.  Members  of  affiliated  organizations  claiming  exemption  from 
political  contributions  under  the  Trade  Union  Act,  1913,  shall  not 
be  entitled  to  act  as  delegates. 


APPENDIX  M  6T7 

2. — Agenda 

1.  Notice  of  Resolutions  for  the  Annual  Conference  shall  be  sent 
to  the  Secretary  at  the  Office  of  the  Party  not  later  than  April  1st, 
for  inclusion  in  the  first  Agenda,  which  shall  be  forthwith  issued 
to  the  affiliated  organizations. 

2.  Notice  of  Amendments  to  the  Resolutions  in  the  first  Agenda, 
and  Nominations  for  the  Executive,  Treasurer,  Auditors  (2),  Annual 
Conference  Arrangements  Committee  (5),  shall  be  forwarded  to  the 
Secretary  not  later  than  May  16th,  for  inclusion  in  the  final  Agenda 
of  the  Annual  Conference. 

3.  No  business  which  does  not  arise  out  of  the  Resolutions  on  the 
Agenda  shall  be  considered  by  the  Party  Conference,  unless  recom- 
mended by  the  Executive  or  the  Conference  Arrangements  Commit- 
tee. 

4.  When  the  Annual  Conference  has,  by  resolution,  made  a  declara- 
tion of  a  general  policy  or  principle,  no  motion  having  for  its  ob- 
ject the  reaffirmation  of  such  policy  or  principle  shall  appear  on 
the  Agenda  for  a  period  of  three  years  from  the  time  such  declaration 
was  made,  except  such  resolutions  as  are,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Executive,  of  immediate  importance. 

3. — Voting 

Voting  at  the  Party  Conference  shall  be  by  Cards  issued  as  fol- 
lows : — 

Trade  Unions  and  other  affiliated  Societies  shall  receive  one  Voting 
Card  for  each  1,000  members  or  fraction  thereof  paid  for. 

Trades  Councils  affiliated  under  Section  8,  clause  c,  shall  receive 
one  voting  card. 

Every  Local  Labor  Party  shall  receive  one  Voting  Card  for  each 
delegate  sent  in  respect  of  each  Parliamentary  Constituency  within 
its  area. 

Central  Labor  Parties  in  Divided  Boroughs  shall  receive  one  vot- 
ing card. 

4. — National  Executive 

1.  The  National  Executive  shall  be  elected  by  the  Annual  Con- 
ference as  a  whole,  and  shall  consist,  apart  from  the  Treasurer,  of 
(a)  13  representatives  of  the  affiliated  organizations;  (b)  five  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Local  Labor  Parties;  and  (c)  four  women.  The 
Executive  shall  be  elected  by  ballot  vote  on  the  card  basis  from  three 
lists  of  nominations. 

2.  Each  affiliated  national  organization  shall  be  entitled  to  nom- 


578  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

inate  one  candidate  for  List  A;  and  two  candidates  if  tlic  member- 
ship exceeds  500,000.  Each  candidate  must  be  a  hona-fide  member 
of  the  organization  by  which  he  or  she  is  nominated. 

3.  Each  Parliamentary  Constituency  organization,  tiirough  its 
Local  Labor  Party  or  Trades  Council,  may  nominate  one  candidate 
for  List  B,  and  the  candidate  so  nominated  must  be  resident  or  have 
his  or  her  place  of  business  within  the  area  of  the  nominating  Local 
Labor  Party. 

4.  Each  affiliated  organization  shall  be  entitled  to  nominate  one 
woman  candidate  for  List  C,  and  two  candidates  if  the  membership 
exceeds  500,000;  whether  such  nominees  are  or  are  not  members  of 
the  nominating  organization. 

5.  The  National  Executive  shall  elect  its  own  Chairman  and 
Vice-Chairman  at  its  first  meeting  each  year,  and  shall  see  that  all 
its  officers  and  members  conform  to  the  Constitution  and  Standing 
Orders  of  the  Party.  The  National  Executive  shall  present  to  the 
Annual  Conference  a  Report  covering  the  work  and  progress  of  the 
Party  during  its  year  of  office,  together  with  the  Financial  State- 
ment and  Accounts  duly  audited. 

6.  No  member  of  the  Parliamentary  Committee  of  the  Trades 
Union  Congress  is  eligible  for  nomination  to  the  National  Execu- 
tive. 

5. — Treasueer 
The  Treasurer  shall  be  elected  separately  by  the  Annual  Confer- 
ence.    Each  affiliated  organization  may  nominate   a  candidate   for 
the  Treasurership  independent  of  any  other  nomination  it  makes  for 
the  National  Executive. 

6. — Secretary 

The  Secretary  shall  be  elected  by  the  Annual  Party  Conference, 
and  be  ex  officio  a  member  of  the  Conference;  he  shall  devote  his 
whole  time  to  the  work  of  the  Party,  but  this  shall  not  prevent  him 
being  a  Candidate  for  or  a  Member  of  Parliament.  He  shall  remain 
in  office  so  long  as  his  work  gives  satisfaction  to  the  National  Execu- 
tive and  Party  Conference.  Should  a  vacancy  in  the  office  occur 
between  two  Annual  Conferences,  the  Executive  shall  have  full  power 
to  fill  the  vacancy,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Annual  Confer- 
ence next  following. 

Nominations  for  the  office  shall  be  on  the  same  conditions  as  for 
the  Treasurership, 


APPENDIX  M  579 

7. — Annual  Conference  Arrangements  Committee 

1.  The  duties  of  the  Conference  Arrangements  Committee  shall 
be:— 

(a)  To  attend  at  the  place  of  Conference  two  days  before  its 
opening,  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  the  Conference  Agenda; 

(b)  To  appoint  Scrutineers  and  Tellers  for  the  Conference  from 
among  the  delegates  whose  names  have  been  received  at  the  Head 
Office  prior  to  May  31st,  such  appointments  to  be  subject  to  the 
approval  of  the  Conference; 

(c)  To  act  as  Standing  Orders  Committee  during  the  Conference. 

2.  Should  any  of  the  five  members  of  the  Conference  Arrange- 
ments Committee  be  unable  to  fulfil  his  or  her  duties,  the  person  who 
received  the  highest  number  of  votes  amongst  those  not  elected  shall 
be  called  upon,  but  should  the  voting  list  be  exhausted,  it  shall  lie 
with  the  Society  the  member  represents  to  nominate  a  substitute. 

3.  Remuneration  of  the  Conference  Arrangements  Committee, 
Scrutineers,  and  Tellers  shall  be  at  the  rate  of  15s.  per  day. 

THE  LABOR  PARTY 

Constitution  and  Rules 

FOR 

Local  Labor  Parties 

IN 

Single  and  Undivided  Boroughs 
memoranda 

The  attention  of  Local  Labor  Parties  and  Trades  Councils  is  spe- 
cially called  to  sub-sections  2  and  3  of  Section  8  (Affiliation  Fees) 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  Labor  Party,  As  a  condition  of  affiliation 
(unless  local  conditions  necessitate  a  departure  from  such  consti- 
tution and  rules,  in  which  case  the  constitution  and  rules  adopted 
shall  be  decided  upon  after  consultation  with  the  National  Executive 
Committee)  the  following  provisions  must  be  observed  by  Local  La- 
bor Parties  and  Trades  Councils. 

1.  Subject  to  alterations  approved  by  the  National  Executive 
Committee,  Local  Labor  Parties  must  adopt  the  constitution  and 
rules  applicable  to  their  area  as  a  condition  of  affiliation.  Local 
Labor  Parties  in  single  and  undivided  Borough  Constituencies,  in 
single-Member  County  Divisions,  and  in  Divided  Boroughs,  affiliate 
to  the  National  Party.  Local  Labor  Parties  in  municipal  borouglis 
and  urban  district  areas  within  County  Divisions  affiliate  to  the 
Divisional  Labor  Party. 


580  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

2.  Trades  Councils,  affiliated  under  Section  8,  clause  b,  of  the 
Party  Constitution,  must  incorporate  the  rules  applicable  to  their 
area  in  the  local  Constitution. 

3.  Complete  copies  of  the  rules  of  Trades  Councils  and  Local 
Labor  Parties  must  accompany  the  application  for  aflfiliation,  and  all 
alterations  of  rules  must  be  notified  to  the  Head  Office  with  the  next 
payment  of  affiliation  fees. 

4.  In  the  London  area,  Local  Labor  Parties  shall  be  formed  for 
Parliamentary  constituencies  with  the  Metropolitan  Borough  a.s  the 
basis  for  each  Local  Labor  Party.  Such  Local  Labor  Parties  may 
adopt  the  rules  for  Divided  Boroughs  or  single-member  constituen- 
cies as  local  conditions  may  render  necessary,  and  subject  to  the 
approval  of  the  National  Executive  Committee.  A  Central  Labor 
Party  for  the  whole  London  area  shall  be  established  upon  such  basis 
as  may  be  agreed  upon  with  the  approval  of  National  Executive 
Committee. 

5.  Trades  Councils  and  Local  Labor  Parties  may  adopt  additional 
rules  to  cover  special  local  purposes,  peculiar  local  conditions,  and 
industrial  objects  not  included  in  the  scope  of  these  rules,  provided 
always  that  such  local  rules  shall  not  be  inconsistent  with  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Labor  Party  nor  be  contrary  to  the  provisions  con- 
tained in  these  rules. 

6.  Where  Local  Labor  Parties  and  Trades  Councils  are  amalga- 
mated, or  where  no  Trades  Council  exists,  and  the  Local  Labor 
Party  decides  to  include  industrial  objects,  the  following  additional 
rules  are  recommended,  but  the  adoption  of  such  rules  is  optional. 

OBJECTS 

Industrial. — To  provide  the  workers  with  a  means  of  education 
upon  Labor  questions,  and  to  keep  an  oversight  on  all  matters  affect- 
ing the  interests  of  Labor,  and  to  discharge  the  functions  of  a  Trades 
CouncU. 

MANAGEMENT 

The  Industrial  objects  shall  be  carried  out  by  an  Industrial  Com- 
mittee acting  as  the  Trades  Council.  The  Industrial  Committee 
shall  consist  of  the  delegates  from  the  affiliated  Trades  Union 
branches,  and  shall  meet  monthly  or  as  required.  Only  Trade  Union 
branches  shall  be  entitled  to  representation  on  the  Industrial  Com- 
mittee, and  all  purely  industrial  and  Trade  Union  matters  shall  be 
dealt  with  by  this  Committee.  Where  political  action  is  necessary' 
in  connection  with  such  industrial  matters,  the  Industrial  Committee 
shall  make,  through  the  representatives  of  the  Trades  Union  Section 


APPENDIX  M  581 

to  the  Executive  Committee  and  the  delegates  to  the  General  Com- 
mittee, recommendations  with  regard  to  the  political  action  neces- 
sary. 

THE LABOR  PARTY 


RuLiBS  AND  Constitution 

(For  single  and  undivided  Borough  Constituencies.  Trades  Coun- 
cils in  such  Boroughs  affiliated  under  Section  8,  clause  h,  of  the 
Constitution  must  incorporate  these  rules  in  the  local  Constitu- 
tion.)   

MEMBERSHIP 

1.  The  Party  shall  consist  of  affiliated  Trade  Union  branches,  the 
Trade  Council,  Socialist  Societies,  Cooperative  Societies  having  mem- 
bers within  its  area;  also  individuals  (men  and  women)  -willing  to 
work  for  the  objects  and  subscribe  to  the  Constitution  and  Program 
of  the  Labor  Party. 

ORJECTS 

2.  To  unite  the  forces  of  Labor  within  the  constituency,  and  to 
secure  the  return  of  Labor  representatives  to  Parliament  and  upon 
Local  Government  bodies. 

MANAGEMENT 

3.  The  management  of  the  Party  shall  be  in  the  hands  of  a  Gen- 
eral Committee  which  shall  consist  of  six  sections,  viz. : — 

(a)  Representatives  of  branches  of  Trade  Unions. 

(b)  Representatives  of  Cooperative  Societies. 

(c)  Representatives  of  branches  of  other  societies  eligible  for 
affiliation. 

(d)  Representatives  of  the  Trades  Council. 

(e)  Individual  men,  and 

(/)  Individual  women,  all  of  whom  must  be  willing  to  abide  by 
the  Rules  of  the  Labor  Party. 

4.  The  basis  of  representation  to  the  General  Committee  shall 
be:— 

(a)  Branches  of  Trade  Unions,  one  representative  for  every  100 
members,  or  part  thereof,  with  a  maximum  of  five  representatives 
from  any  one  branch. 

(6)  Cooperative  Societies  shall  be  entitled  to  representation  on 
the  same  basis  as  Trade  L^nions,  i.e.,  one  for  each  100  members,  or 
part  thereof,  with  a  maximum  of  five  representatives  from  any  one 
Society.     Where  such  membership  exceeds  5,000  the  basis  of  repre- 


682  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

sentation  shall  be  arranged  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  National 
Executive. 

(c)  Branches  of  other  societies  on   the   same  basis  as  clause  o. 

(d)  Trades  Council,  not  exceeding  five  in  number. 

(e)  Individual  men,  such  number  not  exceeding  ten,  as  may  be 
elected  by  the  Section.  If  the  Section  comprises  more  than  1,000 
members,  then  not  exceeding  one  per  100  such  members. 

(/)   Individual  women,  ditto. 

The  Ward  Secretaries  shall  be  ex  officio  members  of  Sections  (e) 
or  if). 

For  the  purpose  of  electing  the  representatives  for  (e)  and  (/) 
the  Executive  Committee  shall  each  year  convene  a  meeting  of  the 
members  of  these  sections  seven  days  prior  to  the  Annual  Meeting 
of  the  Labor  Party.  The  sections  shall  also  be  empowered  to  hold 
separate  meetings  as  occasion  may  require. 

CONTRIBUTIONS 

5.  Contributions,  to  be  payable  on  the  last  day  in  June  and  De- 
cember, shall  be: — 

(a)  Trade  Union  branches  and  Cooperative  Societies  shall  con- 
tribute at  the  minimum  rate  of  2d.  per  member  per  annum,  by  yearly 
or  half-yearly  payments. 

(b)  Socialist  societies  and  Trades  Council  an  annual  sum  of  not 
less  than  10s. 

(c)  Individual  male  members  shall  contribute  a  minimum  sum  of 
Is.  per  annum,  and  female  members  a  minimum  sum  of  6d.  per  an- 
num. 

OFFICERS 

6.  The  Officers,  the  Executive  Committee,  and  two  Auditors  shall 
be  elected  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  General  Committee. 

(a)  The  Officers  shall  be  the  President,  two  Vice-Presidents, 
Treasurer,  Financial  Secretary^,  and  Secretary. 

(b)  The  Executive  Committee  shall  consist  of  the  officers  and 
sixteen  members  who  shall  be  elected  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the 
General  Committee  upon  such  proportionate  basis  of  the  sections 
a,  b,  c,  d,  e,  and  /,  as  the  Local  Party  may  decide,  subject  to  the  ap- 
proval of  the  National  Executive  Committee. 

(c)  The  Chairman  shall  preside  at  all  general  and  E.G.  meetings, 
and  sign  all  minutes  after  confirmation.  In  his  absence  his  place 
shall  be  taken  by  one  of  the  Vice-Presidents  in  order  of  seniority. 

{d)  The  Secretarv'  shall  be  present  at  and  record  minutes  of  all 
general  and  E.C.  meetings.     He  shall  conduct  all  correspondence  and 


APPENDIX  M  583 

prepare  an  Annual  Report.  He  shall  receive  such  remuneration  that 
may  be  decided  upon  by  the  E.G. 

(e)  The  Treasurer  shall  keep  an  account  of  all  moneys  received 
from  the  Financial  Secretary  and  prepare  an  Annual  Balance  Sheet. 
All  money  shall  be  deposited  in  the  bank.  Cheques  to  be  signed 
by  the  Chairman  and  the  Treasurer. 

(/)  The  Financial  Secretary  shall  collect  and  keep  a  correct 
record  of  all  contributions  of  affiliated  societies  and  individual  mem- 
bers, and  shall  pay  over  to  the  Treasurer,  at  least  monthly,  all  moneys 
received  by  him.  He  shall  endeavor  to  obtain  a  comjjlete  record  of 
the  members  of  all  affiliated  branches  (together  with  full  addresses) 
in  addition  to  those  of  the  Individual  Members.  The  list  sliould  be 
compiled  for  ward  purposes,  and  each  Ward  Secretary  should  be 
supplied  with  a  complete  list  of  Members  resident  in  his  Ward. 

WARD   COMMITTEES 

7.  Ward  Committees  shall  be  established  in  each  Ward  of  the 
Borough,  and  include  all  members  of  the  affiliated  branches  and  in- 
dividual members  resident,  or  having  a  place  of  business,  within 
the  Ward.  Each  Ward  Committee  shall  appoint  its  own  Ward 
Secretary  and  any  other  officials.  Ward  Committees  shall  under- 
take the  work  of  maintaining  the  necessary  machinery  for  carrying 
on  any  election  within  the  area  of  the  Ward,  and,  with  the  approval 
of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Party,  shall  arrange  for  propa- 
ganda work. 

ANNUAL    MEETING 

8.  The  Annual  Meeting  of  the  General  Committee  shall  be  held  in 
April,  of  which  28  days'  notice  shall  be  given,  stating  as  far  as 
possible  the  nature  of  the  business  to  be  transacted.  Special  Meet- 
ings may  be  called  at  the  discretion  of  the  E.C.,  or  by  the  written 
request  to  the  Secretary  of  at  least  three  affiliated  branches  or  so- 
cieties, or  ten  individual  members.  Seven  days'  notice  of  special 
meetings  to  be  given  to  the  delegates. 

CANDIDATURES 

9.  Candidates  of  the  Party  for  local  elections  are  to  be  nominated 
to  the  Executive  Committee  by  affiliated  societies,  or  by  the  indi- 
vidual sections,  and  shall  before  standing  receive  the  endorsement 
of  the  General  Committee.  The  Committee  shall  have  the  power  to 
refuse  endorsement  if  it  thinks  fit,  and  may  itself  nominate  a  candi- 
date when  no  other  nomination  has  been  made.  A  list  of  the  candi- 
dates so  nominated  shall  be  submitted  to  the  Ward  Committee  where 


581.  MANAGEMENT  AND  MEN 

the  General  Conmiiltee  have  approved  a  contest,  and  the  candidate 
or  candidates  shall  be  selected  at  a  joint  conference  of  the  Ward 
Committee  and  the  General  Committee. 

The  Executive  Committee  of  the  Party  shall  have  the  final  de- 
cision in  case  of  dispute. 

10.  The  normal  procedure  with  regard  to  a  Parliamentary  Can- 
didature will,  when  there  is  no  special  urgency,  be  as  under: — 

(a)  The  desirability  of  contesting  the  constituency  should  first 
be  considered  by  the  Executive  Committee,  in  consultation  with  the 
National  Executive  and  the  Party  Officers. 

(b)  If  it  is  thought  expedient  to  contest  the  constituency,  the 
matter  should  be,  unless  time  does  not  permit,  brought  before  the 
General  Committee,  with  a  view  to  nominations  being  invited. 

(c)  The  representative  of  any  affiliated  organization,  or  the  in- 
dividual Sections,  and  also  the  Executive  Committee  itself,  may 
nominate  any  person  for  consideration  as  Parliamentary  Candidate 
subject  (i.)  to  having  obtained  such  person's  consent;  (ii.)  in  the 
case  of  nomination  on  behalf  of  any  organization,  to  having  ob- 
tained the  sanction  of  the  Executive  Committee  thereof. 

(d)  The  nominations  so  made  shall  be  laid  before  a  specially  sum- 
moned meeting  of  the  General  Committee  to  determine  which  person, 
if  any,  shall  be  recommended  to  the  National  Executive  for  approval 
as  the  Labor  Candidate. 

(e)  Where  no  nominations  are  made,  or  where  time  does  not  per- 
mit of  formal  procedure,  the  National  Executive  may  take  steps, 
in  consultation  with,  and  with  the  approval  of,  the  Local  Executive, 
to  secure  the  nomination  of  a  Parliamentary  Candidate  where  this  is 
deemed  advisable. 

11.  Every  Parliamentary  Candidate  must  undertake  to  stand  as 
"Labor  Candidate"  independent  of  all  other  political  parties,  and,  if 
elected,  join  the  Parliamentary  Labor  Party. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

12.  The  general  provisions  of  the  National  Labor  Party  as  stated 
in  the  Constitution  and  the  Standing  Orders  shall  apply  to  this 
organization.  This  shall  include  the  payment  of  affiliation  fees, 
election  of  delegates  to  the  Party  Conferences,  nominations  for  the 
Executive  Committee,  etc.,  and  resolutions  or  amendments  for  the 
Conference  Agenda. 

13.  Members  of  affiliated  organizations  claiming  exemption  from 
political  contributions  under  the  Trade  Union  Act,  1913,  shall  not 
be  entitled  to  act  as  delegates. 

THE  END 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Admiralty,  59 

Advisory  committee,  19,  22 

Agitators,  8 

Agricultural  development,  49 

Agricultural  Wholesale  Society,  93 

Agriculture,  21 

Albert  Hall,  4,  188,  190 

Alcohol  content,  28 

Alcoholism,  29 

Alcohol,  problem  of,  27 

Alcohol  traffic,  27 

Allies,  34,  149 

Amalgamated  Society  of  Engi- 
neers, 40,  194 

American  Federation  of  Labor, 
192,  193 

Armistice,  18,  150,  157 

Army,  16,  28 

Asquith  ministry,  181 

Asquitli,  Mr.,  103 

Australia,  23 

Australian  concentrates,  34 

Austria,  35 

Balfour,  Mr.,  146 

Balkans,  16 

Barnes,  181 

Belgian  farmer,  49 

Belgium,  18,  34,  53,  67,  149,  151 

Bolshevism,  4,  186,  189,  204 

Bolshevist,  4 

Brace,  181 

Bradford,  96 

Branting,  202 

British  industry,  15 

British  labor,  8 

British  Socialist  Party,  199 

British      General     Federation      of 

Trade  Union,  192.  194,  198 
British  Trade  Union  Congress,  192 


Builders  National  Industrial  Par- 
liament, 111,  116,  119 
Building  material,  10,  18 
Building  operations,  9 
Building  trade  employers,  104 

Cambrai,  67,  68 

Canada,  23,  34 

Canteens,  60,  61 

Cecil,  Robert,  Lord,  191 

Cement,  149,  150 

Central  Agricultural  Organization 

Society,  93 
Central  Labor  College,  79 
Central  power,  84 
Central  Powers,  16 
Chamber  of  Deputies,  201 
Chambre  de  Commerce 
Chapman,  S.  J.,  Prof.,  103 
Chaucer,  145 

Chinese  labor  battalions,  67 
Class  suspicion,  8 
Claughton,  Sir  Gilbert,,  103 
Cleveland    and    Durham    District, 

127 
Clyde,  6,  189 
Clyde  Valley,  104 
Clynes,  181,"  184,  188,  200 
Olynes,  T.  R.,  103 
Coal,  54 

Coal  deficiency,  18 
Coal  controller,  128 
Coalition  ticket,  182,  184 
Commission  on  industrial  Unrest, 

8,  79 
Compulsory  arbitration,  56 
Confederation  G^n^rale  du  Travail, 

192.  201 
Congestion.  9 
Conservatives,  184,  187 


587 


688 


INDEX 


ConHtitutional  methods,  9 

Controller  of  Hhipping,  124 

Cooperation,  24 

Coiiperative  movement,  29,  80 

Cooperative  store,  85 

Cooperative  trade,  83 

Cooperative  Wholesale  Society,  90 

Cost  of  livinj;,  19 

Cotton  industry,  196 

Covent  Garden,  50 

Defense  of  the  Realm  Act,  61 
Demarkation,  41,  43 
Demobilization,     15,    16,    20,    124, 

146,  154,  170,  189 
Democracy,  30,  66,  74 
Denmark,"  202 
Direct  action,  186,  188 
Discontent,  8,  9 
Domestic  employment,  21 
Domestic  servants,  21 
Domestic  service,  25 
Dominion  Government  offices,  23 
Drink  question,  27 
Drunkenness,  29 

Economics,  36 

Efficiency,  13,  14,  38,  66,  165 
Election,  December,  182 
Emigration,  23 
Employers,  7,  11,  14,  18 
Employment,  field  of,  16 
Employment  project,  11 
Engineers,    Amalgamated    Society 

of,  40 
Engineering  trade,  41 
England,  9,  49 

Exchange,  Employment,  19,  20,  22 
Exemption,  16 
Extremists,  8 

Fabian  Society,  199 

Factory  conditions,  29 

Ferrochrome,  34 

Foreman,    73,   74,   76,   04,   96,   98, 

108,  127,  162 
Foremanship,  74,  99 


France,  16,  18,  53,  67,  84,  149,  151, 
169,  201 

Front,  C,   10,  41,  84,   149 

Furniture  Joint  Industrial  Coun- 
cil, 122 

Garden  City  Press,  92 

Gaston  Foundation,  146 

German  East  Africa,  34 

German  farmer,  49 

German  prisoners,  67 

Germans,  64 

German  Socialists,  181 

German  submarines,  49 

Germany,  31,  33,  34,  35,  49,   149, 

168,  204 
Gompers,  Mr.,  14,  205 

Hamburg,  34 

Hatfield,  Sir  Robert,  38 

Health  Bill,  28 

Henderson,    Arthur,    13,    41,    181, 

183,  188,  192,  201 
Hickens,  W.  L.,  62 
Hobson,  J.  A., 
Hodge,  181 
Holland,  34,  202 
Hours  of  labor,  14 
House  building  project,  11 
House  of  Commons,  177,  178,  180, 

181,  184,  185 
House  famine,  9 
Household  servants,  26 
Houses,  18,  29 
Houses,  shortage  of,  9,  9 
Housing,  national  aid  for,  11 
Housing  program,  9 
Housing  venture,  10 

Independent  Labor  Party,  199 
India,  34,  149 
Indian  mica  trade,  34 
Industrial  boards,  29 
Industrial  Cooperative  Society,  87 
Industrial  Council,  101 
Industrial  efficiency,  44 
Industrial  Parliament,  117 
Industrial  peace,  6 


INDEX 


589 


Industrial  relations,  165 
Industrial  training,  30 
Industrial  unions,  196 
Insanity,  29 

International      Cooperative      Alli- 
ance, 81 
International  Federation  of  Trade 

Unions,  198,  200 
Internationalism,  191 
International  labor  legislation,  29, 

192 
International    INIiners'    Federation, 

198 
International      Socialist      Bureau, 

192.  199 
International      Textile      Workers' 

Federation,  198 
Ireland,  9,  93,  122,  187 
Irish     Agricultural     Organization 

Society,  93 
Italy,  151,'  169 
Italian  labor  movement,  202 

Jackson,  Frederick  Huth,  158 

Joint  councils,  46 

Joint   district    councils,    107,    111, 

113 
Joint  standing  industrial  councils, 

107,  111,  113 

Keid,  Sir  Stephenson,  170 
Kettering,  92 

Labor  demands,  29 

Labor,  departments  of,  175 

Labor  forces,  30 

Labor,  ministry  of,  16,  19 

Labor  movement,  176 

Labor  movement  in  Europe,  201 

Labor    Party,    23,    147.    177,    178, 

180,  183,  186,  199,  200.  207 
Labor  problem,  5 
Labor-saving  machinery,  27 
Lanarkshire,  196 
Lancashire,  22,  80 
Land,  21 

Land  Army,  Women's,  50 
Lands,  29 


League  of  Nations,   191,   192,   193, 

199,  203 
Leaving  certificates,  43 
Leeds,  188 
Letchworth,  92 
Lenine,  207 
Liberal,  182,  184 
Liquor,  27 
Liquor  business,  28 
Liquor  problem,  5S 
Lloyd  George,   13,  28,  41.  58,   179, 

'  181,  182.  183,  186 
London,  19,  22,  34,  83,  104 


MacDonald.  Ramsay,  188 
Management,  66,  67,  70,  73,  74,  75, 

94,  95 
Manager,  30,  71 
Managers,  5,  45 
Manchester,  159 
Marx,  Karl,  199,  204 
May,  J.  S.,  81 
McLeod,  Alexander,  83 
Mechanical  conveyors,   35 
Memorandum  of  war  aims,  207 
Mesopotamia,  16 
Mexican  plan,  27 
Mica,  34 
Midland  City,  33 
Midlands,  189 
Middle-class  household,  21 
Mines,  18,  55 
Miners'  Federation,   194 
Minimum  wage,  national,  29 
Mining  districts,  9 
Minister  of  Reconstruction,  124 
Minister  of  Labor,  101.  107 
Ministry  of  Food,  85 
Ministry  of  Labor,  108,  109,  HI 
Mosses,  Mr.,  41 
Mosses,  Wm..  13 
Munition  girls,  15,  21 
Munitions,    16,   18,   19,   33,   38,  40, 

43 
Munitions'  courts,  42 
Munitions,  Ministry  of,  16 
Munitions'  tribunal,  98 


590 


INDEX 


Munitions  of  War  Aot,  42,  46,  50, 

!)8 
Munition  Workers,  21 
Murray,  Prof.  (Jilhcrt,  78 

National  Alliance  of  Employer  and 

Kinpluyed,   158 
Nationalization,  2!),   186,   187 
National     Union    of    Railwaymen, 

70,  104 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  34 
New  Lanark,  82 
Newman,  Sir  George,  44 
New  Zealand,  2.3 
Normal  working  day,  39 
Norway,  202 

Optical  glass,  35 
Overcrowding,  9 
Overfatigue,  15 
Overstrain,  39 
Owen,  Robert,  80,  82 
Oxford  University,  78 

Painting  and  decorating  trade,  1 14 
Palestine,  16 

Paris  Peace  Conference,  183 
Parliament,  45,  100,  140,  177,  178, 

180,  181,  183,  185,  188 
Parliamentary  action,  30 
Parti  Socialiste,  201 
Pauper  relief,  31 
Peace,  16 

Peace  Congress,  101,  193 
Pit  committees,  128 
Plebs  League,  79 
Plunkett,  Sir  Horace,  93 
Plymouth,  S7,  88,  89 
Poland,  53 
Potash,  34,  35 
Poverty,  31 

Pottery  industry,  122,  123 
Production,  11,' 13,   14,  15,  30,  36, 

41,  43,  51,  63-65,  66,  148,  152 
Production,  committee  on,  56 
Profiteering,  7,  9,  158 
Prussians,  5 
Public  health  acts,  29 


HailwaVH,  18 

Raw  material,  15,  18 

Kcconstruction,   3,   4,   23,   31,   100, 

101,   142,   157 
Renold,  (has.,  150 
iienold,  Hans,  150 
Renold,  160,  161,  163,  164 
Rent  .Act,  Restriction  of,  10 
Replacement  by  women,  26 
Restoration,  l.'i,  14,  23,  36 
Restoration  pledge,  12 
Restrictions  on  output,  36 
Returned  soldier,  21,  23 
Roberts,  181 
Rochdale  Pioneers,  80 
Royal  Arsenal,  83 
Royal  Commission,  158 
Royal  proclamation,  56 
Rubber  works,  152 
Runciman,  Walter,  13 
Runciman,  Mr.,  41 
Ruskin  College,  79 
Russia,  4,  5,  84,  101,  140,  189,  201, 

203,  204,  205,  207 
Russian  Bolsheviki,  200 
Russian  Bolshevism,  4 
Russian  Revolution,  200 


Saloniki,  151 

Science,  30,  50 

Scientific  management,  50,  51 

Scotland,  9 

Self-management  movement,  92 

Self  ridge,  Gordon,  165,  166 

Serbia,  151 

Sheffield,  143,  145 

Shipyard,  46 

Shop  stewards,  125,  126,  127 

Socialists,  181 

Soldiers,  20,  21 

South  Africa.  23 

South  America.  149,  150,  151 

Soutli  Wales.  70,  ISO.  106 

South  Wales  Mining  Federation,  78 

Soviets,  188 

Spelter,  34 

Stassfurt  Mines,  34 


INDEX 


591 


Statesmanship,  7 

Status,  77 

Strand,  23 

Substitution  by  women,  26 

Sweden,  202 

Technical  schools,  35 

Textiles,  33 

Theosophical  Society,  134 

Thomas,  J.  H.,  188,  200 

Time  keeping,  7,  29 

Times,  105 

Tin  plate,  150,  151 

Trade  boards,  57 

Trade  customs,  39 

Trade  practices,  11 

Trades  councils,  116 

Trade   Union    Congress,    177,    178, 

195,  207 
Trade  unionism,  29 
Trade  unionists,  22 
Trade  union  privileges,  41 
Trade  union  restrictions,  39 
Transport  Workers'  Federation,  59 
Treasury  agreement,  11 
Trenches,  16 

Triple  Alliance,  190,  195 
Troelstra,  202 
Trotsky,  4 
Trunk  acts,  82 
Tungsten,  34 

Unemployment,  5,  6,  10,  20,  29,  39, 

47 
Unemployment  pay,  19 
Unions,  39 
Unions,  Trade,  1 1 
Unrest,  6.  8 
United  States,  27,  31,  64,  85,  149, 

176,  180 


Wage  Adjustment,  57 

Wage  minimum,  21 

Wage  Standards,  47 

Wages,  26,  55,  56 

Wage  tribunal,  56 

Wales,  9,  49 

War,  6 

War  Cabinet,  107 

War  machine,  15 

War  Office,  59,  149 

War  workers,  16 

Webb,  Sidney,  94 

Wellingborough,  92 

Whitley  Committee,   105,  106,  112, 

113 
Whitley  Council,  114,  116 
Whitley  Report,  102,  103,  107,  111, 

158 
Whitley  scheme,  153,  173 
Withdrawal    of    labor    committee, 

104 
Woman,  26 
Woman  worker,  27 
Women,  5,   19,  25,  26,  36,  46,  47, 

163,  184 
Women  workers,  25 
Woolwich  Society,  83 
Workers'  Educational  Association, 

77 
Working  day,  normal,  15 
W'orkingman,   Educational   Associ- 
ation, 54 
Works  Committee,  96 
Works   committees,    107,   108,   111, 

113,    125,    126,    127,   128,    130, 

131 


Zeppelin  raids,  163 
Zinc  smelting,  34 


UCLA-Young   Research   Library 

HD8390   .B62 

y 


L  009   498   420   0 


